Races (Frustengrad)

Your choice of race for your characters is one of the first reflections of yourself as a player. Each of the varied races of Frustengrad has their own culture and traits, informed by a long history and their interactions with other cultures.

Due to the fact that the Old Gods only made three Prime races in Frustengrad before they abandoned this plane, the selection of races in Frustengrad is scarce. This is not to say that other races might not eventually find their ways into the setting, but as of this time, the below listed races are the only available for play.

The descriptions in this chapter are generalizations, broad-stroke descriptions of the values and traits of a particular race. There are outliers and exceptions within every group of peoples.

Not all the races described in the Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Player’s Handbook can be found on Frustengrad. The descriptions in this book were created for the Frustengrad setting, so long as the campaign takes place on Frustengrad, the information in this section supersedes the Player’s Handbook.

# The "Prime" Races

## Dwarves

(Player's Handbook Pg. 18)

According to the legends of the ancient clans, when the Old Gods first made the worlds, they cut from each the Twelve peaks the Dwarven Chiefs, who gave birth the Dwarven race. Each Dwarf was cut to its own design, some strong of arm and made to break the rock, and others who were wise and in tune with the Gods. The greatest and best among them was the first King of Clans, Aleyrn the First, who called forth his council and each to their measure separated the Twelve Mountains by their skill.

### Hill Dwarves

The Dwarves who stand nearest the feet of the Mountains are more spry and wiser than their cousins who stayed near the *favrenfel*. They are more likely to take on human companions, but see them as less long lived elves than a different race altogether. They are gifted smiths and storytellers (from a dwarven perspective) and tend to have strong bonds with Thanic Humans, as well as lesser fey-kind such as gnomes and halflings.

### Mountain Dwarves

*Fel* dwarves are traditionally seen as the nobility of Dwarven culture. Most of the lighter skinned dwarves of the Mountains can directly trace their lineage to either the current chief of their clan, if not the Aleyrn himself. These dwarves are proud, more often leading to the following in the paths of Palladian services to the Gods of the Deep, and practicing smaller arcane magiks (such as those of the Artificer) to worship their Gods and ply their trades.

### Gray Dwarves (Duergar)

The Duergar are held at arms length by the other Dwarven clans. Descendants all of the Eighth Mountain Rebellion, the Gray Ones were the first to hear the call of the Gods of the Deep, and most Dwarves would say it drove them all mad. Their skin is so pale that it is said that they are more Elven than Dwarven, and the sun burns them as it does the Drow. Despite their similarities, the Duergar hate the Drow because the Duergar have the strongest code of honor and loyalty of all Dwarven Clans, and they see the Dark Elf betrayal of the Elves during the Blood-Stone war as a dishonor that can never be unburdened.

## Elves

After the Old Gods had cut the Dwarves from the Mountain tops, they pulled from the bark of the Fel their perfect servants, and the lithe and beautiful elves were born. Gifted natural magiks and a beauty that rivaled the Old Gods themselves, the Elves were the epitome of the Gods grace and dignity. So they were given the task of becoming Guardians to the Fel, where they claim all Magik was first borne into the world.

### High Elves

The most regal and royal of elven peoples, the High Elves are pale skinned and beautiful, with high arching brows and the telltale long and pointed ears of the elvish. To their number, they gifted of Fey-tongue was given, and from their spirits, Magik is renewed unto the world. High Elves rarely extend themselves beyond their great cities in the Fel, as their natural propensity for natural and arcane magiks are stronger inside of their White Cities. Most often when meeting a High Elf outside of the Fel, it is because of some diplomatic mission between the Elven Cities and the Human Tribes, as the Elves still see the Human's burgeoning civilization.

### Wood Elves

Wood Elves see Humans and other creatures in a much different way than their snobby cousins. They enjoy the frivolity of the shortness of a Human's lifespan, and find them charming and seek to emulate them. *Woaden,* as they are known to the High Elves, seek play and adventure above most things not taking life too seriously because in death they will be reborn to the Fel, and in life, there is adventure as their human friends have taught them. Wood Elves can be found as adventurers, shop keepers, teachers of martial and arcane arts, and some even take up Bardic pursuits and apply to the College of Bards.

### Dark Elves (Drow)

Dark Elves are traitors to Elvenkind, and even they won't dispute it. During the Blood-Stone war, the Drow sided with the Dwarves, claiming that Elves had no right to claim the world as they had been charged with protecting the Fel not ruling over the ground. When the war was over, the Drow were cast out of the Fel and joined the Dwarven clans deep within the mountains. Their skin lost its shine and they became ugly by Elven measure as they darkened from lack of magic and light, and their lives became shortened and puny as they lost their ability to return to the Veil when their time on this plane was over.

## Humans

As the Bajocian's tell it, Human's were gifted the water when the Old Gods made the worlds. Pulled from the foam, Human's were the favored of the Old Gods and were promised the shore and everything beyond it. When the Third age came and Humans finally began to expand beyond their shoreline borders, many who believed in the Old Ways saw it as the final seal being broken of what once was promised to them at the beginning of everything.

### Bajoci

Those who rose from the waves first, the first Humans, are the Bajoci and they are a proud people. Born without magik, the Bajoci instead rely on their wit and culture to survive the harsh eastern shores. Born of thousands of years of war before the introduction of magic into their society, Bajoci are creatures of discipline, tradition, and knowing your place in the hierarchy of your Kin. Only through that structure can one survive.

Bajoci traditionally have darker skin, hair, and eyes than their fairer kinsmen to the east. Bajoci on average are a few inches shorter than their Vah'len or Vanatian kin, more on par with the height of Gloran's though lacking the density and width of the thanes. Instead, the lythe fingers of the long limbs of the Bajoci are more adept for work with music and art than the fires and forges of the east.

### Vah'len

The Urokan Raids of the Second Era led to the lucrative human slave trade amongst the other Prime races. One such subsection of humanity eventually became the Vah'len, the ones who came from the Dwarves. Dwarves marveled at the human race for their dexterity and their creative acumen.

Though they saw the humans as frail and unable to make fine works of smithing as a Dwarf could, they marveled at the detail that humans were able to put into their craft once trained. In addition, while Dwarven ballads are long, complex histories, a Dwarven clan was not complete without a Parnassian laureate to grace their halls with stories and music of Dwarven legends.

The Vah'len stand only slightly taller than their Bajoci brethren but are on average thinner and have lighter skin as the deep mines did not allow for the traditional dark skin of the humans. Vah'len as a people are more inclined to the arts instead of more martial pursuits, finding wealth and natural arts to be superior to magiks and academics.

### Vanat

The Elves were not so noble as to not take part in the slave trade that the Urok were plying, and they relished in the art of owning what they perceived as a second-class race, a mistake by the Old Gods in creation. The Elves of the Second Era were a proud folk and they broke their human charges, forcing them to endure magical torture until their blood had soaked in enough power from the Fel that they too could finally expend magiks.

Unlike the Dwarves, the Elves did not revel in the humans but did impress at the strength of their limbs. They conditioned humans to become fierce warriors who would gladly give their lives for the Fel, whether for the glory of the Elves or to escape their merciless captors.

Darker skin than the Vah'len and darker eyes and hair, Vanat are hard to distinguish from Bajoci except for their height and facial features that are more angular and sharp. Magic had extended their bodies and their lives making them the longest living of the humans, but also the least human in their features with tilted chins and cat-like eyes.

### Gloran (Thanic)

The Gloran are fair of hair and fair in combat. They seek nobility in battle and do not look kindly on those who lie, cheat, and steal. If you meet a Gloran on the road, you would be best to mind your manners and your tongue or learn why they took their name from the Urok word for "Victorious".

When the Bloodstone war was ended, those who would become the Gloran traveled North from the Pitts of the Urok, wearing their slave collars with pride, and marched to the base of the Shalom mountains to make a deal with the Elves and Dwarves. In exchange for acting as a buffer between the two great races on one of their most bloody battlefields, the Glorans would take the land themselves and take lumber from the dying parts of the Fel, planting younger trees behind them. The two races, beaten bloody by the war, agreed. The six families that quartered the deal divided up the land between them, and lived in mostly harmony until the Bajoc-Valen war at the end of which they were forced to decide how to divide themselves again to form the Thaneships

Glorans are tall, with pale skin and pale hair, eyes ranging from blue to green, to gray. Strong of arm and body, they are liable to the martial trades, but also to paths of merchants as their blood is built for either the glory of exploration and being a warrior or a business-person serves this hunger. Their culture is a strict one, full of rules and tracking lineages, but no one who has ever fought against or alongside a Gloran (on the battlefield or in the marketplace) has ever called them anything but honorable combatants.

# "Secondary" Races

The races described here are less common in the world of Frustengrad than other races, they are neither as populous or as widespread as elves, dwarves, or humans and they haven’t managed anywhere near the domination, culturally or geographically, that those people have managed. That is not to say that these peoples are unheard of. They are present in respectable populations across Frustengrad and some have many small settlements across the world or have integrated their populations into larger cities.

## Half-Breeds.

Half-elves and half-orcs are the symbols of humanity moving through the other peoples of Frustengrad and leaving something of themselves behind.

## Fey

The smaller racial populations, halflings, gnomes, goliath, all of them are spread across the world and some have built their own lives. Some, like the gnomes or halflings, have largely integrated themselves into human society or have their own cultures that are tightly connected to those of humans. Other peoples, like the goliath, live entirely separate from the large cultures of humans, elves, and dwarves.

## Aasimar

Some say that the Aasimar are fallen stars from the heavens given human form, others say they are the half children of wayward gods and brave humans. Regardless of their original nature, the Aasimar are as beautiful as they are rare. Few Aasimar ever takes to the adventuring life, instead, they make their place amongst the heavens and other extra-planar places. Humans tell stories of Aasimar who have appeared to them in moments of extreme piety, even spurning some Paladins and Clerics to take up lives of religious zeal.

Aasimar are demi-gods who experience the same urges as humans, and as such, they are prone to bringing into the world children that are half their own nature, and some beings with natural healing abilities and especially delicate features are said to possibly be these Nephilim.

## Gnomes

Gnomes come from the Elven line of Fey, but tend to stay to the farther reaches of the Fel, more often than not making their homes in the non-magical forests of Frustengrad. They collective themselves in small tribes that tend to keep to themselves, and rarely travel farther than their home.

Gnomish culture is strange in they do not have family names instead when a young gnome comes of age the gnome is given a name that signifies what their place in both the tribe and what their purpose in life is.

## Goliath

The wandering herds of the Goliath are for more kin to the Dwarves in their under-mountain halls then they are to the fey of the Fel. The Goliaths have a strong sense of unity and tribal longevity, but prefer to stay north of Itgiat in the tundras of Moonisi and do not do well to dwell within the human communities of Paag, Bajoc, and Valen. Goliaths are strong, hard workers and excellent craftsmen. Surprisingly nimble, they make most everything that they use in their herds and have the same blood in them that makes the dwarves such wonderful smiths. Though few dwarves would admit it, having one of their swords or a fine breastplate compared to that of a Goliath's work is not the grave insult to them that it would be if they were compared to one of the other, less equipped races.

## Halflings

Halflings are strange folk in the orders of Fey, as they are not quite Dwarven in their make, but not quite Elven in their magiks. In fact, if anything they are most like humans in that they have no innate skill or magic, except in fantastic cases in which some bloodline has mixed and given a select halfling a gift for the arcane.

The Halflings live in hills in the West of Valen, where the feet of the Shalom mountains meets the plains of Vanatia, and they are happy there, rarely liking to make a mess of things beyond what small mischiefs they can prescribe within there limited spheres of influence. But it is said that if you take a halfling from their hovels, they can become wild and powerful adventurers, the likes of which tales are told about for generations.

# Distribution

The major peoples of Frustengrad, humans are widespread across the world, and the less common or alien races have their own spreads across the continents. Dwarves tend to stay to their mountains, and Elves to the Fel. The Urok and Goliath have no home after the end of the second era, and so, for the most part, they have become nomadic, occasionally razing and pillaging unsuspecting settlements near the edge of civilization

# Life Expectancy

The varied peoples of Frustengrad each lead different lives, and those lives have different spans. There is a not exactly negligible infant mortality rate, but for those that survive very early childhood, they can expect full lives. Sadly there is, for all people, an end to that life as they came to know it. Some people die sooner than expected, others hang on to life longer, and some extend themselves well past their years through magical means. Others outright cheat death or simply defy it. For the majority of the people of Frustengrad, they would be considered to be on the older side for their species at the lower range of this scale and venerable in their old age if they live past the higher range.

**Dwarves**: 300-400 years

**Elves**: 500-750 years

**Drow**: 300-500 years

**Gnomes**: 200-300 years

**Goliath**: 80-100 years

**Half-Elves**: 200-300 years

**Half-Orcs**: 40-60 years

**Halflings**: 100-150 years

**Humans**: 60-80 years