(Note: The species most commonly called the Merfolk is one of many that may be collected under the category of beastmen -- a category defined by certain assumptions about their origins, and already discussed under its own heading. It seems unlikely in the extreme that such creatures would have evolved naturally unless perhaps they were a seagoing people who evolved the human appearance of their upper bodies as a form of mimesis to attract human sailors or coastal people and win their sympathy -- probably a rather far-fetched theory. It therefore must be assumed that sorcerous power and human intention -- or pantheonic intervention based on human mythology or the like -- was involved in their origins. It is nevertheless possible of course that the species has since evolved from the form into which it was originally manipulated; differences between merfolk populations in isolated regions would likely be suggestive if we wish to learn when the species came to be.)
Of the many varieties of beastmen known or believed to inhabit the world, the ocean-dwelling merfolk are the best known to Black Steel personnel, thanks to Daryan's long-standing relationship with Greyilah from the northern sea and -- most importantly -- the sizable merfolk colony in Scabbard Harbor, with which Black Steel has established close diplomatic and economic ties, even going so far as to construct canals within the city to facilitate trade, communication, and commerce in spite of the natural barrier between air-breathing dwellers on land and gilled inhabitants of the seas. Though distant and casual observers -- or lazy ones -- are apt to say that merfolk are human from the waist up and fish from the waist down, those who actually interact with them know better: Though fish-like in appearance, their "tails" spread horizontally like a dolphin's fluke, with muscles arranged accordingly, and attempting to identify the point where their "human" body ends and their "fish tail" begins is essentially meaningless; no part of their body is entirely human in structure or design, from their amphibious breathing apparatus to their long arms and necks and exceedingly flexible spines. Their scales and skin tones tend toward white in front, with the scales often pale green or grey in color, and sometimes even a very pale blue, both but darken toward the backs, where dark green, grey, or even midnight-blue scales approaching black are not uncommon, as well as much darker skin which itself may sometimes be faintly tinted with blue or green. The scales do not end in a neat line above the hips as they are portrayed in the work of ill-informed artists, like the waistline of a dress, but extend around the sides and up the back, sometimes as far as the space between the shoulder blades in back. Merfolk hair is likewise almost always dark in color -- essenitally black -- though sometimes with greenish or bluish tints. The common wisdom around the Scabbard is that merfolk hair is always straight, but Theril isn't convinced; she postulates, "It's always straight because it's always sopping wet."
Among the merfolk of Scabbard Harbor, long hair is a sign of high station in both men and women; the leaders of their small tribe bind back their long locks while hunting with strands of seaweed, with fishermens' lines recovered from snags, or with fine line or wire bartered or purchased from their neighbors in The Scabbard proper. Simple tribesmen, from kelp farmers to fishherds to the soldiers of the village's standing undersea garrison, use stone or coral knives to keep their hair cut short, with craftsmen, war band leaders, and heads of families falling in between -- but commerce with The Scabbard has brought with it a growing sense of egalitarianism, to the point that some "lower-class" merfolk citizens have taken to visiting hair stylists along the canals to crop their short hair evenly or even in complicated styles meant to show off their best features as they swim. Making up for other signs of station, such as jewelry made from shells, corals, and pearls, or even human jewelry worked in The Scabbard specifically for underwater use, is naturally more difficult, but the greatest leveling influence of The Scabbard is simply its elevation of standard of living across the village. Resources and luxuries to which few or none of the merfolk had ever had access before -- ceramics are particularly valued -- have become so readily available that the community's leaders could hardly deny their people access even if they wished to do so. In turn, they provide such resources as they can gather more conveniently than can their shore-bound neighbors, from seafood and sea jewels to salvage from ships that sank off-shore.
It would be a mistake to assume that "merfolk culture" is exemplified by that of the Scabbard harbor colony, either before or after their extensive contact with The Scabbard itself; on the contrary, according to Daryan and Greyilah's testimony at least, distant merfolk tribes seem to have little in common apart from what is made necessisary by their environment, anatomy, and physiology. Though there are many similarities in language between the village where she was born and the one in Scabbard Harbor, they are clearly two entirely distinct languages, though with similarities. For Greyilah, learning to live among the merfolk of Scabbard Harbor -- not only for linguistic reasons -- was a difficult and challenging feat, and it was her eventual success that recommended her as an ambassador of sorts to merfolk communities around Kaiimar, whose language differs yet again from that of Scabbard Harbor's, though with much greater similarities, and whose customs and hierarchies vary from village to village enormously. Overcoming barriers to communication and trust will not be easy work in her situation, and it remains to be seen whether any merfolk support can be had for the battle for Kaiimar. It should be said that Greyilah's travels -- much aided and motivated by surface-dwelling humans -- are nearly unique among merfolk she or Black Steel personnel have met. At least among the tribes she has visited, most merfolk have little or no commerce with one another or other sentient races, and rarely travel far from their home villages. Of course, it may be that there are tribes in other regions of the sea whose tales and traditions are bound up with travel -- Black Steel's contacts simply haven't met any ... or didn't know it if they did.
Perhaps in large part because of their tendency -- among those Black Steel personnel have met -- to live in small, distinct communities, merfolk have never been reported to weave sorceries in the fashion of a wizard. As noted elsewhere, sorcerous potential is so rare among humans, and requires so much training before it can be realized, that a small human village without outside contact would have virtually no chance of maintaining the knowledge necessary for actual wizards ever to grow up there. If something similar is true for merfolk, they might individually be even more likely than humans to harbor sorcerous potential and yet never discover it. Of course, priests and shamans among the merfolk are reputed to wield or to be the vessels for extraordinary and miraculous powers, but the nature of such powers -- and indeed the truth of such reputations -- is the subject of much debate and uncertainty.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Beastmen
(Note: The designation "Beastmen" is obviously one of human invention, but the same might possibly be said of the beastman races themselves. Though calling these beings "crosses between humans and wild beasts" would be a gross oversimplification at the very best, and lumping them all into the same category is fairly ludicrous, many sentient races do exist in the Black Steel world with bipedal stances or other clearly human-like features [or elven- or goblin-like, which amounts to the same thing] along with features from fur to scales to tearing jaws to tails that are associated by most humans with nonsentient beasts. It is fair to hypothesize that powerful sorcerous forces, whether in human hands or directed by pantheonic powers bound to human worship, guided or forced the development of beings so like those featured in typical human myths in our own world. It's unfortunately a difficult hypothesis to test however within the Black Steel world. Perhaps if mythological artifacts and signs of sorcerous power appeared in the archaeological record prior to the earliest signs of "beastmen" of any variety, it would be suggestive, or sorcerous means might be found of uncovering the history of magical "tampering" with a genetic line -- perhaps far in the world's future, when and if they discover the concept of genetics and the structure of DNA. At all events, beastmen clearly are not /homo sapiens/ but constitute a number of different species; unless certain werebeasts are counted among them, an issue which will need to be discussed separately -- it appears they are unable to breed with humans or indeed at all outside of their own beastman species.)
Some species of beastmen are known well enough to Black Steel personnel, and play an important enough role in that nation, to deserve separate and individual discussions. Prominent among these are the Merfolk of Scabbard Harbor, with their cousins in numerous places across the sea, apparently including some in the vicinity of Kaiimar, but Black Steel has also had extensive experience with a few others as well: Lizardfolk (including the "Sea Raiders" often mistakenly regarded as a distinct species) and so-called Wolfmen (whose appearance doesn't fairly resemble wolves) have sometimes been friends, enemies or both; indeed, "Grim" is a member of the Rat Pack regardless of his saurian appearance, and Hegrakz, a Black Steel member of some years' standing regardless of his thick fur and elongated snout (not really wolf-like in spite of the race's too-prevalent name) was long a member of Daryan's elite team, while a number of Horned Men participate in Black Steel's heavy combat forces. Moreover, Herring and Theril and the few others who have traveled in Grat'ha have encountered a number of Serpentfolk, perhaps related to one the Rat Pack met in Night Harbor, though there appear to be numerous varieties, some apparently humans who were "blessed" by serpent gods, others supposedly serpent gods themselves in corporeal form. There is also the matter of werebeasts, which seem to exist in surprising variety, and deserve (at least) a separate discussion as well. Whether these (and others, such as Seashore Sirens are included among the beastmen is simply a matter of how far one arbitrarily chooses to extend an already arbitrary and extensive category.
In theory, any number of beastman species could exist; there are certainly myths, which may or may not be based on facts (or result in pantheonic or other sorcerous manipulation such that facts might be based on them) of numerous varieties, from hawk, eagle, crow, or sparrow people to lion men (and presumably lioness women) to goat-like satyrs or others beastmen resembling cattle or sheep. There are few confirmed sightings, but rare exceptions do exist, perhaps the results of individual blessings or curses, or members of larger, little-known communities; the Rat Pack has actually befriended a "Bat Woman" for instance, who lives in Night Harbor; sadly, that group has proven less interested than some of their peers in investigating their friends' background and heritage, and so Theresa's origins, like those of so many other reported beastmen, remain a mystery.
See Also the general article on the People of the Black Steel World and specific articles on the types of beastmen best known to Black Steel:
Horned Men
Lizardfolk
Merfolk
Seashore Sirens
Serpentfolk
Werebeasts
Wolfmen
Some species of beastmen are known well enough to Black Steel personnel, and play an important enough role in that nation, to deserve separate and individual discussions. Prominent among these are the Merfolk of Scabbard Harbor, with their cousins in numerous places across the sea, apparently including some in the vicinity of Kaiimar, but Black Steel has also had extensive experience with a few others as well: Lizardfolk (including the "Sea Raiders" often mistakenly regarded as a distinct species) and so-called Wolfmen (whose appearance doesn't fairly resemble wolves) have sometimes been friends, enemies or both; indeed, "Grim" is a member of the Rat Pack regardless of his saurian appearance, and Hegrakz, a Black Steel member of some years' standing regardless of his thick fur and elongated snout (not really wolf-like in spite of the race's too-prevalent name) was long a member of Daryan's elite team, while a number of Horned Men participate in Black Steel's heavy combat forces. Moreover, Herring and Theril and the few others who have traveled in Grat'ha have encountered a number of Serpentfolk, perhaps related to one the Rat Pack met in Night Harbor, though there appear to be numerous varieties, some apparently humans who were "blessed" by serpent gods, others supposedly serpent gods themselves in corporeal form. There is also the matter of werebeasts, which seem to exist in surprising variety, and deserve (at least) a separate discussion as well. Whether these (and others, such as Seashore Sirens are included among the beastmen is simply a matter of how far one arbitrarily chooses to extend an already arbitrary and extensive category.
In theory, any number of beastman species could exist; there are certainly myths, which may or may not be based on facts (or result in pantheonic or other sorcerous manipulation such that facts might be based on them) of numerous varieties, from hawk, eagle, crow, or sparrow people to lion men (and presumably lioness women) to goat-like satyrs or others beastmen resembling cattle or sheep. There are few confirmed sightings, but rare exceptions do exist, perhaps the results of individual blessings or curses, or members of larger, little-known communities; the Rat Pack has actually befriended a "Bat Woman" for instance, who lives in Night Harbor; sadly, that group has proven less interested than some of their peers in investigating their friends' background and heritage, and so Theresa's origins, like those of so many other reported beastmen, remain a mystery.
See Also the general article on the People of the Black Steel World and specific articles on the types of beastmen best known to Black Steel:
Horned Men
Lizardfolk
Merfolk
Seashore Sirens
Serpentfolk
Werebeasts
Wolfmen
Monday, November 30, 2009
Legendary Giants
(Note: Lumping giant humanoid creatures into two broad categories -- essentially "Earth Giants" and "Not Earth Giants" -- is almost as arbitrary as grouping humanoid creatures by their bulk and height. Nevertheless, some division must be made, and this seems to be a useful one. The term "legendary giants" is more appropriate on the Fire Coast however than in places like Grat'ha, where cyclopes, at least, far from matters of nebulous legend, are known to exist beyond question.)
By far the most common humanoid giants are those collectively known as earth giants, but legends persist of others with strange features or powers, perhaps developed over the course of centuries or millenia by the ancestors of these giants themselves, or perhaps originated by powerful sorceries or ritual magics that transformed one or more communities in their entirety. Black Steel personnel have managed to locate unmistakable living cyclopes on several occasions, and have on a very few occasions (including very recently in the course of Herring and Theril's present journey through the jungles of Grat'ha) spotted a giant of enormous size that for one reason or another they supposed might be one of the so-called "fire giants" -- whatever that designation means.
Cyclopes are popular subjects of fables along the Fire Coast, which -- as fables usually do -- disagree rather thoroughly about their numbers, lifestyle, size, and intelligence. Black Steel personel have encountered several live cyclopes however, particularly in the region of Grat'ha, and have therefore come to a tentative conclusion that these monstrous one-eyed giants -- monstrous on the strength of their size alone, with some over six meters in height -- actually represent a viable, breeding species, which survives in the fertile lands of Grat'ha in a fashion roughly similar to that of "mountain giants" in more arid climes. The story of these creatures' origins is likely an intriguing one if it could be uncovered, as it is hard to imagine a one-eyed race of giants coming to be unless as the result of extraordinarily powerful sorcerous forces. Those Fire Coast myths that refer to these creatures' origins at all typically speak of a terrible pantheonic curse. Cyclopes encountered by Black Steel to date have mostly been aggressive and dull-witted by human standards, and certainly incapable of wielding sorcerous power, but these numbers remain too small to draw serious conclusions, in spite of the close contact Black Steel personnel have had with them -- including three that were coaxed by magic (and then slowly weaned from their bewitchments) to join Black Steel's forces themselves. The needs of these gigantic creatures are so enormous that, when not provided by a more civilized and far-reaching entity like Black Steel, they leave cyclopes as necessarily solitary or near-solitary creatures, likely meeting only to bear and raise children in the fertile, food-rich jungles themselves. It is therefore likely that few traditions of any kind are passed down beyond the bare necessities of survival, leaving open the theoretical possibility of magical aptitude that simply but inevitably goes undiscovered, unnurtured, and untaught.
Talk of magic-wielding giants on the Fire Coast comes in many varieties, but the most common references -- particularly in the far north -- are to "Fire Giants" who live in the deeps of that land's volcanoes, and cause eruptions when they go to war, and to "Frost Giants" who bring the winter each year (and against whom, many legends tell, Shaer and/or Athoth do annual battle, to force their retreat and permit the spring to return). They are said to be the personal servants of Karha, the Winter Maiden, whose beautiful ice palace -- sometimes spoken of as a place in the far north of the world, other times as her home beyond the world in the realms of the pantheon -- stands at the heart of many legends of its own. Fire Giants are likewise sometimes said to be the servants of Varekh, but sometimes to be renegades from his rule of the earth and stone. Reports of the powers, size, and strength of these giants vary, and if Black Steel personnel have ever met such a creature, they saw no sign of any particular power. Some claim to have seen a fire giant walking the streets of Night Harbor, but have no proof that it was such a creature apart from its being "huge!" and its bright red hair. Herring and Theril recently met a giantess deep in Grat'ha as well with dark skin and blood-red hair, estimated at five meters in height or more, but were not able to communicate with her. She spoke to them in a language they did not know, climbed the massive tree where they were perched, and settled herself in a kind of saddle formed by the stumps of its fallen upper branches, apparently to watch the jungles around her (a sentry, perhaps?) or just to relax in the sun. She or others like her might explain Grat'han tales of "fiery" or "fire-head" giants, but it is difficult to establish any connection between these tales and the "fire giant" legends of the north.
Other tales speak of giants capable of walking invisibly across the world -- how even an invisible giant could actually pass unobserved among humans is rarely addressed in the tales -- watching the doings of distant lands, raining magical forces down on their enemies, or transforming themselves or their victims into beasts, structures, or stones, among other incredible powers. If such stories have any basis in truth, it has not been confirmed or discovered by any Black Steel personnel.
By far the most common humanoid giants are those collectively known as earth giants, but legends persist of others with strange features or powers, perhaps developed over the course of centuries or millenia by the ancestors of these giants themselves, or perhaps originated by powerful sorceries or ritual magics that transformed one or more communities in their entirety. Black Steel personnel have managed to locate unmistakable living cyclopes on several occasions, and have on a very few occasions (including very recently in the course of Herring and Theril's present journey through the jungles of Grat'ha) spotted a giant of enormous size that for one reason or another they supposed might be one of the so-called "fire giants" -- whatever that designation means.
Cyclopes are popular subjects of fables along the Fire Coast, which -- as fables usually do -- disagree rather thoroughly about their numbers, lifestyle, size, and intelligence. Black Steel personel have encountered several live cyclopes however, particularly in the region of Grat'ha, and have therefore come to a tentative conclusion that these monstrous one-eyed giants -- monstrous on the strength of their size alone, with some over six meters in height -- actually represent a viable, breeding species, which survives in the fertile lands of Grat'ha in a fashion roughly similar to that of "mountain giants" in more arid climes. The story of these creatures' origins is likely an intriguing one if it could be uncovered, as it is hard to imagine a one-eyed race of giants coming to be unless as the result of extraordinarily powerful sorcerous forces. Those Fire Coast myths that refer to these creatures' origins at all typically speak of a terrible pantheonic curse. Cyclopes encountered by Black Steel to date have mostly been aggressive and dull-witted by human standards, and certainly incapable of wielding sorcerous power, but these numbers remain too small to draw serious conclusions, in spite of the close contact Black Steel personnel have had with them -- including three that were coaxed by magic (and then slowly weaned from their bewitchments) to join Black Steel's forces themselves. The needs of these gigantic creatures are so enormous that, when not provided by a more civilized and far-reaching entity like Black Steel, they leave cyclopes as necessarily solitary or near-solitary creatures, likely meeting only to bear and raise children in the fertile, food-rich jungles themselves. It is therefore likely that few traditions of any kind are passed down beyond the bare necessities of survival, leaving open the theoretical possibility of magical aptitude that simply but inevitably goes undiscovered, unnurtured, and untaught.
Talk of magic-wielding giants on the Fire Coast comes in many varieties, but the most common references -- particularly in the far north -- are to "Fire Giants" who live in the deeps of that land's volcanoes, and cause eruptions when they go to war, and to "Frost Giants" who bring the winter each year (and against whom, many legends tell, Shaer and/or Athoth do annual battle, to force their retreat and permit the spring to return). They are said to be the personal servants of Karha, the Winter Maiden, whose beautiful ice palace -- sometimes spoken of as a place in the far north of the world, other times as her home beyond the world in the realms of the pantheon -- stands at the heart of many legends of its own. Fire Giants are likewise sometimes said to be the servants of Varekh, but sometimes to be renegades from his rule of the earth and stone. Reports of the powers, size, and strength of these giants vary, and if Black Steel personnel have ever met such a creature, they saw no sign of any particular power. Some claim to have seen a fire giant walking the streets of Night Harbor, but have no proof that it was such a creature apart from its being "huge!" and its bright red hair. Herring and Theril recently met a giantess deep in Grat'ha as well with dark skin and blood-red hair, estimated at five meters in height or more, but were not able to communicate with her. She spoke to them in a language they did not know, climbed the massive tree where they were perched, and settled herself in a kind of saddle formed by the stumps of its fallen upper branches, apparently to watch the jungles around her (a sentry, perhaps?) or just to relax in the sun. She or others like her might explain Grat'han tales of "fiery" or "fire-head" giants, but it is difficult to establish any connection between these tales and the "fire giant" legends of the north.
Other tales speak of giants capable of walking invisibly across the world -- how even an invisible giant could actually pass unobserved among humans is rarely addressed in the tales -- watching the doings of distant lands, raining magical forces down on their enemies, or transforming themselves or their victims into beasts, structures, or stones, among other incredible powers. If such stories have any basis in truth, it has not been confirmed or discovered by any Black Steel personnel.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Earth Giants
(Note: It is hardly possible that all giants are of the same species, but the argument might be made about the so-called "earth giants," and even that (at least some) earth giants represent a race (or several races) of /Homo sapiens/. It appears that a common evolutionary adaptation to the availability of sorcerous power in the Black Steel world is to take advantage of that power to support a body too large to function on the basis of physical strength alone, leading to the likes of giant insects, giant lizards ... and apparently, giant human beings. The number of giants that evolved naturally, and the number that evolved thanks to the interference of -- or were created outright by -- sentient beings wielding powerful sorceries, is difficult to estimate, particularly if the tales are true of certain giants who themselves consciously weaving sorcery. (The sorcerous adaptations that allow creatures to survive at enormous size are unconscious in nature -- giant insects are not sentient as a rule -- and may even occur on the cellular level.) If a race of, say, giant elves consciously guided its own evolution via woven magics, would that represent natural development, sorcerous interference, or both?)
Giants come in various sizes (from very big to just enormous) and self-appointed giant killers tend to classify them by size, sometimes crudely, as in, "We've got a seventeen footer out by Barleymoor," other times by misappropriating more useful descriptive names. When a "woodland giant" is reported descending upon a town out of barren mountains, it is usually for this reason, though of course, being sentient beings, giants of any classification do not always live up to their names.
Most giants familiar to Black Steel personnel, and apparently the most common giants in the world by a wide margin, are those known collectively as "earth giants" -- those whose appearance, behavior, and abilities are essentially in line with those of humans, goblins, and (for the sake of argument at least) elves, apart from their vast size. Such giants are by and large reputed to be slow-witted, clumsy creatures with nasty mean streaks, and the reputation is not entirely unearned, at least in the experience of Black Steel personnel. Moreover, it appears that the larger giants are likewise on the whole less agile, both physically and mentally. Thus, though legends of magic-wielding earth giants do exist, it seems unlikely, especially among the largest of giants, that they are actually capable of mastering the intricacies of sorcerous power -- and indeed, Black Steel personnel have never encountered a spell-wielding earth giant. The issue of mean-spiritedness is another matter however, and Osiavia has posited that it is primarily related to hunger -- more common among larger giants simply because they have to work harder just to feed their enormous bodies -- and indeed, the giants with which Black Steel personnel have direct dealings always seem more relaxed and personable after a good, hearty meal (though this could perhaps be said of almost anybody). It is imaginably possible that even their intellectual limitations arise from the same source -- the need to feed such massive bodies certainly leaves little time for contemplation, study, or other intellectual pursuits. It would be an interesting experiment to attempt to raise giant children from birth among human peers, providing for their feeding and other needs, but the expense would be enormous, to say nothing of the logistics of the thing, or the difficulty of acquiring a meaningful number of newborn giant children.
Presumably for reasons related to the availability of food and other resources, the largest giants are also the least numerous, and the least likely to form large communities. Those that are small enough to do so successfully without exhausting local food supplies faster than they can move to new localities typically gather in tribes reminiscent of goblinoid and primitive human communities. Such tribal giants are most commonly known as ogres, and are often of less than three meters in height; the smallest among them can sometimes pass as unusually large, brawny humans or goblins if properly attired, among those unable to see into their magical nature. (Younger giants can sometimes pass as full-grown members of smaller races as well, but this is rare, as -- for instance -- a giant child usually looks like an oversized child rather than a human teenager.) Ogres themselves appear on the whole to regard the distinction between themselves and humans or goblins as one essentially of family and upbringing rather than of race or species. There has never to Black Steel knowledge been an attempt (as there have been, always ill-fated, in the case of goblinkind) to "unite all ogrekind" -- the name doesn't appear to carry much weight in most ogre societies. It should be noted however that ogres have been known to act as mercenaries, or to unite in larger numbers than they could sustain themselves, under the direction of more civilized sentients, capable of supplying food and other resources for them from much further afield than the ogres themselves could reach. Black Steel itself has done this to a certain extent in building up Charracks's defensive force for The Edge, and another case was witnessed by Thaqz in a deep cavern complex near Shalaton, supposedly organized by shadow elves, though the real situation was not wholly clear.
Giants who average much above three meters in height, with the rest of their bodies more or less in proportion, can rarely support themselves in tribal communities of reasonable size. They therefore tend to gather in much smaller family groups, the size and numbers of which presumably depend on the size of the giants and the availability of food and other resources in the region. Those who live in forests and other food-rich localities -- sometimes including lightly-held human borderlands, where they can steal or extort food from human agricultural communities -- typically exist as small, settled nuclear families. On reaching maturity, male giants from such family groups typically set out to find mates among other giant families, and once a match is made, both mates leave their parent groups in search of a place that can support them in the long term while they raise a family of their own. Since woods provide such a rich environment for finding food and material for clothing, shelter, and tools, giants of this type often settle in forests, and are commonly known as woodland giants. It may well be however that giants of sizes normally associated with such small family groups would be able to support much larger communities if they could make use of human agricultural techniques; none who do so however have yet been discovered by Black Steel personnel. On the other hand, giants of this size can sometimes be brought together in large groups by the intervention of another sentient society capable of bringing food and other material together from distant places for the purpose of sustaining the giants together. Black Steel itself has done this, and is managing to support no less than twenty earth giants of great size -- ranging between about three and five meters in height, with bulk at least in proportion -- among its various land holdings.
The largest of the earth giants could hardly support themselves in a significant community even in the lushest of fertile lands. Named rather for their typically tremendous size, "mountain giants" don't necessarily live in mountains, but they may well /look/ like mountains to the terrified and impressionable people who survive to tell their stories. Naturally, these stories are greatly exaggerated however -- whether by tellers in search of glory or by memories colored by fear -- and in spite of the tremendous size often attributed to them, mountain giants rarely exceed five meters in height (though with massive bulk even for that size) in the experience of Black Steel personnel. In areas with little access to food, giants of a size typically associated with woodland giants or even ogres may behave as larger giants do in more fertile realms, further blurring the distinctions between size- or behavior-based classifications.
Often solitary, or moving in very small family groups, mountain giants are likely to be nomadic -- moving out of an area as or before they over-hunt it rather than even trying to live there and conserve its resources -- or range far from settled homes to hunt, for similar reasons. Mountain giants have also been known to rely on human beings to generate sufficient food for their needs in an area of reasonable size. Those who do so by stealing from or murdering the humans who provide their sustenance rarely profit by it, as human ingenuity, in the form of wizards, heroes, or cleverly prepared militia with traps and home-made siege machinery, inevitably slays such monsters or drives them away, but more amicable arrangements are sometimes made with some success, and Black Steel does count several mountain giants among the earth giants with whom it works. For the most part however, mountain giants tend to avoid populated areas, traveling or ranging through relatively untamed wilderness instead, and only stealing from -- preferably distant -- human farmers and the like on rare enough occasion to avoid deadly reactions from major human communities.
One final curiosity relating to magic-based gigantism is an apparently increased probability of conjoined twins. In particular, a form extremely rare among human beings, but noticably common among the smaller giants (relatively speaking, naturally) is that of a body with two heads. In Black Steel's experience, such two-headed giants are best treated as two separate sentient entities who happen to share the same body, and in dealing with them thus, Black Steel has even managed to bring two pairs (which is to say, two bodies and four heads) of them into their military community.
Giants come in various sizes (from very big to just enormous) and self-appointed giant killers tend to classify them by size, sometimes crudely, as in, "We've got a seventeen footer out by Barleymoor," other times by misappropriating more useful descriptive names. When a "woodland giant" is reported descending upon a town out of barren mountains, it is usually for this reason, though of course, being sentient beings, giants of any classification do not always live up to their names.
Most giants familiar to Black Steel personnel, and apparently the most common giants in the world by a wide margin, are those known collectively as "earth giants" -- those whose appearance, behavior, and abilities are essentially in line with those of humans, goblins, and (for the sake of argument at least) elves, apart from their vast size. Such giants are by and large reputed to be slow-witted, clumsy creatures with nasty mean streaks, and the reputation is not entirely unearned, at least in the experience of Black Steel personnel. Moreover, it appears that the larger giants are likewise on the whole less agile, both physically and mentally. Thus, though legends of magic-wielding earth giants do exist, it seems unlikely, especially among the largest of giants, that they are actually capable of mastering the intricacies of sorcerous power -- and indeed, Black Steel personnel have never encountered a spell-wielding earth giant. The issue of mean-spiritedness is another matter however, and Osiavia has posited that it is primarily related to hunger -- more common among larger giants simply because they have to work harder just to feed their enormous bodies -- and indeed, the giants with which Black Steel personnel have direct dealings always seem more relaxed and personable after a good, hearty meal (though this could perhaps be said of almost anybody). It is imaginably possible that even their intellectual limitations arise from the same source -- the need to feed such massive bodies certainly leaves little time for contemplation, study, or other intellectual pursuits. It would be an interesting experiment to attempt to raise giant children from birth among human peers, providing for their feeding and other needs, but the expense would be enormous, to say nothing of the logistics of the thing, or the difficulty of acquiring a meaningful number of newborn giant children.
Presumably for reasons related to the availability of food and other resources, the largest giants are also the least numerous, and the least likely to form large communities. Those that are small enough to do so successfully without exhausting local food supplies faster than they can move to new localities typically gather in tribes reminiscent of goblinoid and primitive human communities. Such tribal giants are most commonly known as ogres, and are often of less than three meters in height; the smallest among them can sometimes pass as unusually large, brawny humans or goblins if properly attired, among those unable to see into their magical nature. (Younger giants can sometimes pass as full-grown members of smaller races as well, but this is rare, as -- for instance -- a giant child usually looks like an oversized child rather than a human teenager.) Ogres themselves appear on the whole to regard the distinction between themselves and humans or goblins as one essentially of family and upbringing rather than of race or species. There has never to Black Steel knowledge been an attempt (as there have been, always ill-fated, in the case of goblinkind) to "unite all ogrekind" -- the name doesn't appear to carry much weight in most ogre societies. It should be noted however that ogres have been known to act as mercenaries, or to unite in larger numbers than they could sustain themselves, under the direction of more civilized sentients, capable of supplying food and other resources for them from much further afield than the ogres themselves could reach. Black Steel itself has done this to a certain extent in building up Charracks's defensive force for The Edge, and another case was witnessed by Thaqz in a deep cavern complex near Shalaton, supposedly organized by shadow elves, though the real situation was not wholly clear.
Giants who average much above three meters in height, with the rest of their bodies more or less in proportion, can rarely support themselves in tribal communities of reasonable size. They therefore tend to gather in much smaller family groups, the size and numbers of which presumably depend on the size of the giants and the availability of food and other resources in the region. Those who live in forests and other food-rich localities -- sometimes including lightly-held human borderlands, where they can steal or extort food from human agricultural communities -- typically exist as small, settled nuclear families. On reaching maturity, male giants from such family groups typically set out to find mates among other giant families, and once a match is made, both mates leave their parent groups in search of a place that can support them in the long term while they raise a family of their own. Since woods provide such a rich environment for finding food and material for clothing, shelter, and tools, giants of this type often settle in forests, and are commonly known as woodland giants. It may well be however that giants of sizes normally associated with such small family groups would be able to support much larger communities if they could make use of human agricultural techniques; none who do so however have yet been discovered by Black Steel personnel. On the other hand, giants of this size can sometimes be brought together in large groups by the intervention of another sentient society capable of bringing food and other material together from distant places for the purpose of sustaining the giants together. Black Steel itself has done this, and is managing to support no less than twenty earth giants of great size -- ranging between about three and five meters in height, with bulk at least in proportion -- among its various land holdings.
The largest of the earth giants could hardly support themselves in a significant community even in the lushest of fertile lands. Named rather for their typically tremendous size, "mountain giants" don't necessarily live in mountains, but they may well /look/ like mountains to the terrified and impressionable people who survive to tell their stories. Naturally, these stories are greatly exaggerated however -- whether by tellers in search of glory or by memories colored by fear -- and in spite of the tremendous size often attributed to them, mountain giants rarely exceed five meters in height (though with massive bulk even for that size) in the experience of Black Steel personnel. In areas with little access to food, giants of a size typically associated with woodland giants or even ogres may behave as larger giants do in more fertile realms, further blurring the distinctions between size- or behavior-based classifications.
Often solitary, or moving in very small family groups, mountain giants are likely to be nomadic -- moving out of an area as or before they over-hunt it rather than even trying to live there and conserve its resources -- or range far from settled homes to hunt, for similar reasons. Mountain giants have also been known to rely on human beings to generate sufficient food for their needs in an area of reasonable size. Those who do so by stealing from or murdering the humans who provide their sustenance rarely profit by it, as human ingenuity, in the form of wizards, heroes, or cleverly prepared militia with traps and home-made siege machinery, inevitably slays such monsters or drives them away, but more amicable arrangements are sometimes made with some success, and Black Steel does count several mountain giants among the earth giants with whom it works. For the most part however, mountain giants tend to avoid populated areas, traveling or ranging through relatively untamed wilderness instead, and only stealing from -- preferably distant -- human farmers and the like on rare enough occasion to avoid deadly reactions from major human communities.
One final curiosity relating to magic-based gigantism is an apparently increased probability of conjoined twins. In particular, a form extremely rare among human beings, but noticably common among the smaller giants (relatively speaking, naturally) is that of a body with two heads. In Black Steel's experience, such two-headed giants are best treated as two separate sentient entities who happen to share the same body, and in dealing with them thus, Black Steel has even managed to bring two pairs (which is to say, two bodies and four heads) of them into their military community.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Goblinkind
(Note: "Goblin" and "goblinoid" are the standard terms of reference for a particular, largely-nocturnal race of /Homo sapiens/ in the Black Steel world. Like humans and elves, they could probably be divided into various geographically and culturally distinct "subraces," but almost no one ever attempts to define such categories for goblinoids, since differences of culture and even physical appearance tend to vary widely even within a small geographic area among goblinkind; the extent of the differences between "subraces" are so insignificant in comparison with those that are often found between local tribes that such divisions are typically ignored completely by students of goblin lore -- which, as with "subraces" of humans, likewise confined to superficial differences such as in skin color, is about as much attention as they deserve. Of course, the human desire to categorize things typically leads to other divisions of goblinkind into "subraces" of other varieties, typically associated with size or ferocity, but these don't represent even true subraces at all; they refer to common developmental or cultural factors that may occur in similar ways in widely-separated places and have nothing to do with heredity.)
Humans use any number of different words to refer to beings, real or imagined, who are at once like and unlike them enough to cause revulsion. From goblin to bugaboo to bogey, with countless variations like "hobgoblin" and "bogeyman," arguably extending to the likes of "barbarian" and "brute," most of these words have come at one time or another to be used for goblin peoples. While some insist that certain words specify certain "types" of goblins, this usage is utterly inconsistant from one human land to another; one nation's "bugbear" is another one's "gob."
Physically, goblins resemble humans with somewhat over-sized ears, noses, and eyes, relatively long arms, and a large quantity of body hair. Their skin is typically grey, but their hair is almost always black among goblins in their prime, tending toward grey or white like human hair if they manage to survive to old age. Their eyes may be red, brown, grey, or black, though red is believed to be the most common. Goblin noses usually appear as though the nostrils were permanently flared, and their canine teeth tend to be longer than the average for those of humans or elves. There are number of subtler differences in their facial structure as well, which make goblins immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with them -- and, by the standards of most human observers, contribute to their hideous ugliness. For what it's worth, goblins appear to be of divided opinion about human appearances, running the full spectrum from copious praise for human beauty to revulsion at human ugliness. Even if all concerned were really telling the truth as they saw it however, it must be remembered that all were goblins who (more-or-less-)willing decided to interact with humans, so it is unlikely to be a truly representative sample.
Primarily a nocturnal race, typically living in dense forests and the shallow parts of caves, goblins do appear to have some anatomical and physiological advantages that help them to see better in the dark, and to rely more heavily on their other senses than do humans, but it is important to bear in mind that these differences are small in comparison with those between different species; goblins can't see in total darkness, and in truth, most of their ability to function better than most humans at night comes down to practice and training, honed over the course of many generations as night-bound creatures.
Most humans regard goblins as intrinsically and entirely evil creatures -- some due to prevailing mythologies, some due to assumptions that anything ugly must be evil, and some due to bitter experience. While the notion that "evilness" is a natural, hereditary trait of goblinkind is clearly ludicrous -- Black Steel personnel are well aware that goblins can be as peaceful, empathetic, trustworthy, and virtuous as any human being, as inhabitants of Gorlog's village have amply demonstrated on many occasions -- the hatred that has grown up between humans and goblinkind is indisputable, and its most violent atrocities rather one-sided. Where most humans would just as soon avoid goblin caves and never interact with the creatures, goblin culture almost universally extolls murder, pillage, rape, and destruction of humans and their property. In this case, the rare exception -- such as Gorlog's village, where unmistakably goblinoid people, growing up in a culture of tolerance for their human neighbors, are almost universally friendly to those neighbors, happily trading, teaching, learning, and sharing labor and protection with them -- really does seem to prove the rule. Whatever the cause, most goblin cultures seem to extoll violence and larceny toward human beings, in spite of their manifest native capacity to form more peaceful societies. It has been argued by a few -- nearly always by those who do not themselves dwell near hostile goblin tribes -- that greater tolerance of and friendship toward goblinkind on the part of human beings would lead to peaceful relations between the two peoples, but it is not only said but amply demonstrated throughout history that goblin tribes willing simply to refrain from attacking and stealing from their human neighbors are almost always left in peace, and yet it is rare for goblin tribes to take this step, no matter how peaceful or tolerant their human neighbors may be. Such research as Black Steel has been privvy to suggests that most goblin tribes would have to abandon most of their cultural heritage in order to long interact peacefully with human beings. Of course, individual goblins are as capable as humans of rejecting the mores of their native societies, and the most tolerant of human cities are likely to include small populations of "renegade" goblins -- to say nothing of Night Harbor, where not only all human races, but any number of sentient species mingle and conduct their various trades, in an atmosphere of extreme latent danger, but mostly peaceably.
The extent of magical aptitude among goblinkind is hard to guess, though it certainly is not as widespread as among elven peoples. Given the typical size of their tribes, their most common cultural mores -- typically intolerant of learning -- and the rarity of communication from tribe to tribe, it would be unsurprising to find no wizards among goblinkind even if a much greater proportion of their population were natively capable of wielding magic than is true of humanity. In fact, Black Steel personnel have never encountered a goblin wizard -- unrealized potential is harder to assess -- and though goblin shamans are sometimes claimed to possess miraculous powers, there has been no opportunity for Black Steel to confirm any of these as more than stories.
Goblins and human beings breed true -- it is not clear whether the same is true of elves and goblins -- and the children of such pairings are typically strong and healthy, blending the racial characteristics of their parents. Berlokh, Thaqz's assistant, is the example best known to Black Steel personnel of these. Among human societies, anyone with both goblin and human ancestry in their family's recent history is said to have "goblin blood," especially when physical characteristics -- from red eyes to subtle differences in the shape of the face -- give them away. The term "goblin blood" is usually considered an insult among humans, and used as such, and some human nations have been known to ban people with known goblin heritage from citizenship, or even to exile or imprison them upon discovery, but it has been said that these receptions are preferable to those normally received at the hands of goblin tribes into whose clutches humans with or without goblin blood have fallen. At all events, Black Steel does not make goblin blood a bar to citizenship, whether or not there is any human blood at all mixed in, and the use of the term "goblin blood" as an insult among humans is rare in the extreme in a nation where using it in that fashion would insult not only the target of the words, but a number of Black Steel's allies and military personnel who truly have goblin blood, or are goblins entirely.
Humans use any number of different words to refer to beings, real or imagined, who are at once like and unlike them enough to cause revulsion. From goblin to bugaboo to bogey, with countless variations like "hobgoblin" and "bogeyman," arguably extending to the likes of "barbarian" and "brute," most of these words have come at one time or another to be used for goblin peoples. While some insist that certain words specify certain "types" of goblins, this usage is utterly inconsistant from one human land to another; one nation's "bugbear" is another one's "gob."
Physically, goblins resemble humans with somewhat over-sized ears, noses, and eyes, relatively long arms, and a large quantity of body hair. Their skin is typically grey, but their hair is almost always black among goblins in their prime, tending toward grey or white like human hair if they manage to survive to old age. Their eyes may be red, brown, grey, or black, though red is believed to be the most common. Goblin noses usually appear as though the nostrils were permanently flared, and their canine teeth tend to be longer than the average for those of humans or elves. There are number of subtler differences in their facial structure as well, which make goblins immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with them -- and, by the standards of most human observers, contribute to their hideous ugliness. For what it's worth, goblins appear to be of divided opinion about human appearances, running the full spectrum from copious praise for human beauty to revulsion at human ugliness. Even if all concerned were really telling the truth as they saw it however, it must be remembered that all were goblins who (more-or-less-)willing decided to interact with humans, so it is unlikely to be a truly representative sample.
Primarily a nocturnal race, typically living in dense forests and the shallow parts of caves, goblins do appear to have some anatomical and physiological advantages that help them to see better in the dark, and to rely more heavily on their other senses than do humans, but it is important to bear in mind that these differences are small in comparison with those between different species; goblins can't see in total darkness, and in truth, most of their ability to function better than most humans at night comes down to practice and training, honed over the course of many generations as night-bound creatures.
Most humans regard goblins as intrinsically and entirely evil creatures -- some due to prevailing mythologies, some due to assumptions that anything ugly must be evil, and some due to bitter experience. While the notion that "evilness" is a natural, hereditary trait of goblinkind is clearly ludicrous -- Black Steel personnel are well aware that goblins can be as peaceful, empathetic, trustworthy, and virtuous as any human being, as inhabitants of Gorlog's village have amply demonstrated on many occasions -- the hatred that has grown up between humans and goblinkind is indisputable, and its most violent atrocities rather one-sided. Where most humans would just as soon avoid goblin caves and never interact with the creatures, goblin culture almost universally extolls murder, pillage, rape, and destruction of humans and their property. In this case, the rare exception -- such as Gorlog's village, where unmistakably goblinoid people, growing up in a culture of tolerance for their human neighbors, are almost universally friendly to those neighbors, happily trading, teaching, learning, and sharing labor and protection with them -- really does seem to prove the rule. Whatever the cause, most goblin cultures seem to extoll violence and larceny toward human beings, in spite of their manifest native capacity to form more peaceful societies. It has been argued by a few -- nearly always by those who do not themselves dwell near hostile goblin tribes -- that greater tolerance of and friendship toward goblinkind on the part of human beings would lead to peaceful relations between the two peoples, but it is not only said but amply demonstrated throughout history that goblin tribes willing simply to refrain from attacking and stealing from their human neighbors are almost always left in peace, and yet it is rare for goblin tribes to take this step, no matter how peaceful or tolerant their human neighbors may be. Such research as Black Steel has been privvy to suggests that most goblin tribes would have to abandon most of their cultural heritage in order to long interact peacefully with human beings. Of course, individual goblins are as capable as humans of rejecting the mores of their native societies, and the most tolerant of human cities are likely to include small populations of "renegade" goblins -- to say nothing of Night Harbor, where not only all human races, but any number of sentient species mingle and conduct their various trades, in an atmosphere of extreme latent danger, but mostly peaceably.
The extent of magical aptitude among goblinkind is hard to guess, though it certainly is not as widespread as among elven peoples. Given the typical size of their tribes, their most common cultural mores -- typically intolerant of learning -- and the rarity of communication from tribe to tribe, it would be unsurprising to find no wizards among goblinkind even if a much greater proportion of their population were natively capable of wielding magic than is true of humanity. In fact, Black Steel personnel have never encountered a goblin wizard -- unrealized potential is harder to assess -- and though goblin shamans are sometimes claimed to possess miraculous powers, there has been no opportunity for Black Steel to confirm any of these as more than stories.
Goblins and human beings breed true -- it is not clear whether the same is true of elves and goblins -- and the children of such pairings are typically strong and healthy, blending the racial characteristics of their parents. Berlokh, Thaqz's assistant, is the example best known to Black Steel personnel of these. Among human societies, anyone with both goblin and human ancestry in their family's recent history is said to have "goblin blood," especially when physical characteristics -- from red eyes to subtle differences in the shape of the face -- give them away. The term "goblin blood" is usually considered an insult among humans, and used as such, and some human nations have been known to ban people with known goblin heritage from citizenship, or even to exile or imprison them upon discovery, but it has been said that these receptions are preferable to those normally received at the hands of goblin tribes into whose clutches humans with or without goblin blood have fallen. At all events, Black Steel does not make goblin blood a bar to citizenship, whether or not there is any human blood at all mixed in, and the use of the term "goblin blood" as an insult among humans is rare in the extreme in a nation where using it in that fashion would insult not only the target of the words, but a number of Black Steel's allies and military personnel who truly have goblin blood, or are goblins entirely.