The Fallen Clans

## **Clan Ral, Bearers of the Blood Rage**

Clan Ral was one of the oldest clans, closely related with Clans Lam and Deler. The first Ral was cursed by a foul sorcerer (or so the legend goes), so that “All those of your line, for here into the aether, shall possess within them a rage that cannot be lulled nor silenced, which shall cause their very essence to boil.” However, this curse emerged in a way that the sorcerer had not foreseen.

### **The Blood Rage**

The Ral “Blood Rage” as it became known as, is power that only some Ral possessed. This manifested as a blood red aura around a Ral during a period of intense rage, drawing power from the sheer force of existential anger they feel towards their creator. However, entering the Blood Rage without caution could kill the user. As it is a *curse* when a user's anger ran unchecked, the aura would stop feeding on the emotional magic, but rather a user's own blood, boiling it from the inside. The physical toll of the Blood-Rage is evident in a users heart as well, it places a great strain, and many Rage-Bearers have been stricken down in battle not by an enemies blade, but by a massive heart attack.

### **Blood of the Mother**

It is believed that the Blood Rage passes through the maternal line, and thus because of the high rate of intermarriage between the three eldest clans, Deler and Lam had the highest rates of Rage-Bearers outside of Clan Ral.. These rates are still quite low, but every so often a young Lam or Deler’s eyes will begin to glow red, and the parents will rush to check their family ancestry. There is only one confirmed case of the bloodrage in Clan Konos, and there has never been one recorded in Clan Arelebel.

### **The Sleeping Bears**

The Blood Rage manifests in a Rage-Bearers soon after they reach adulthood (35-50), as such all Ral are trained from a very young age in meditative and calming practices, in order to protect any from the Blood Rage emerging uncontrolled. Non-Ral Lam and Deler Rage-Bearers often had a harder time adjusting to the Blood Rage, and would need to spend years, or even decades, to refine their emotional control in order to re-enter society.

## **Clan Deler, Architects of the Earth**

Clan Deler is another of the three oldest Dwarven Clans, standing alongside Clans Lam and Ral. They were known for their zealous approach to work and creation. They believed if they engineered a perfect society, through architecture, planning, laws and agriculture, they could defeat Morkith by proving his assumption that the dwarves were “Mistakes” wrong.

### **Earth Shapers**

Those of Clan Deler are found with the mindset that because the earth itself under their feet is a creation of Morkith, it cannot be truly “good” until it has been altered by the hand of a dwarf. Fields not sown and plown are fiendish, rivers not damned and redirected chaos. It was of all things, a Deler, the first Deler, who designed the mountain fortress of Ovaldam, carved into the very stone itself.

### **Perfectionists**

Those of Clan Deler can be known to be extremely deliberate in their cleanliness and need for neatness and order where they live. They feel the need for their lives to contain a sense of order, a refuge from the chaos of the natural world. They are not averse to getting down and dirty while on the job, but their offices and homes are rarely anything short of pristine and tidy.

### **Reckless development**

In Clan Deler’s zealous desire to reshape the earth away from Morkith’s image, theft frequently went too far, and delved too deep, disturbing ancient creatures and spirits. It has even been rumored the reason they were wiped out so quickly, was the undead horde was released when a Deler mining expedition opened a long sealed tomb in the far north...