Ulutiun

## Introduction

Ulutiuns are a rare, almost wild, ethnicity of the human race, whom share a distant bloodline with the Illuskans. They are only encountered in few places of Éarthrun, usualy in the polar regions. They are the dominant race in Tundrasil and Grun'duk where they live of the land and hunt seals, raindeer and mammoths. Due to their tribal, barbaric and animalistic culture, they never travel beyond their homelands, and the few who do, rarely travels beyond the boarders Nav'ien. Ulutiuns have few uses for other human ethnicities, but some find paid work as mercenaries. Ulutiuns are also called "Ice men" by other races.

### Description

Ulutiuns have dark, light brown skin, dark hair, and dark brown eyes. They are short - rarely standing taller than 1.70 m. - and tended to have flat facial features, with tiny noses. They have short and thick legs with stubby fingers and toes. This tended to make them slower and less dexterous than other humans, but this was compensated by greater fortitude and strength, due to their dense muscles. They had especially wide and strong teeth coupled with strong jaws, making them able to chew the bones of their prey. Males usually weighed between 60 - 90 kg, and females are about 16 kg lighter than that. Due to harsh living conditions and a rough lifestyle, ulutiuns rarely live past the age of 60 years. They have a low intelligence, and aren't very smart in general as a result they often act on their instinct instead of reason, which can be off-putting to other more intelligent and wise races.

Ulutiun males grow facial hair from a very young age, usualy showing signs of stubbles at the age of eight. Men and women have more fat under their skin, than other humans, however still looking extremely well trained due to extra blood vessels in their extremities. These adaptive variations granted them a special resistance to living in the frigid weather of the polar regions.

### Culture

Ulutiuns are an adaptable and nomadic people and live close to nature in their hunter-gatherer tribes. The strongest warrior of the tribe, is usualy the chieftain. Some tribes prefer to have an old, and wise leader as their chieftain, usualy with a strong second in command to add weight to his word. To become chieftain of a tribe, the challenger must declare a duel, known as Gur'urnak, against the current chieftain. The Gur'urnak is fought naked on a frozen lake, with only a sharpened fang from saber-toothed tiger as their weapon and usualy ends in a regular blood bath. Some challangers spare their old chieftain as a sign of respect, but depending on the tribe it can also be interpretated as disrespect, to let a defeated chieftain live with the shame of losing in a Gur'urnak. The vanquished chieftain usualy disapear deep into the wilderness, never to return.

Since metal is rare on glaciers, Ulutiun hunters and warriors have inferior weapons, usualy made of bones, teeth or sharpened rocks. Their armor, if any, is typicaly made from heavy leather hides or fur. Compared to the dwarves or Illuskan to the south, they are nothing more than cave men. They were known for being ferocious in battle, due to their animalistic predatory instincts coupled with a unparalleled ability to survive their arctic climates. They favored spears, due to their simplicity. If forced to fight, they battled to the death, and usualy claimed scalps as a sign of victory. In more barbaric tribes, they were even known for canibalism, eating parts of their dead foe as a sign of their superiority.

Ulutiuns have unique animal handling skills, making them able to tame and train wild animals, especially the saber-toothed tiger is a favored companion by male ulutiuns. They serve as a great hunting aid and a fierce ally during battles with the ice giants.

Uluituins will judge you based on your physique and your abilities in survival and combat, but are rarely impressed by magic, which they believe are evil spirits being manipulated by the caster. Even healing potions are considered evil, and instead they rely on nature medicin

### Relations with other Races

Ulutiuns tended to be friendly once one got to know them and are usualy somewhat welcoming to other ethnicities of humans, especially the Illuskan due to their similar culture. The Ulutiun have a somewhat tense relationship with the Dwarves due to the Ulutiuns friendliness toward Arctic Dwarves, but they are not openly at war, and the tension is primarely on the side of the Dwarves due to their long grudge with the Arctic Dwarves; and the friend of your enemy is an enemy of you. Few Ulutiuns have ever encountered gnomes and halflings and would probably mistake them for being young or short humans. Elves rarely travel in the polar regions, and few, if any, ulutiuns have even witnessed an elf. Elves regard them as nothing than barbaric, underdeveloped and dirty humans. The ulutiuns have a deeply nourished hatred toward ice giants, sometimes they even launch coordinated attacks with mutiple tribes on their villages. The polar regions are generely isolated from other races, so the only real threat to the ulutiuns are the ice giants, wild saber-toothed tigers, mammoths, polar bears and the extreme weather. Fire Giants rarely rise from the volcanic depths below Tundrasil and Grun'duk.