Kin

The **Kin** of the Forbidden Realms make up the majority of the sapient species of the land. Adventurers are generally drawn from either the humans, elves, half-elves, dwarves, wolfkin, orcs, goblins or halflings of the realm.

Our game uses a homebrewed version of the written setting, especially for the histories of the kin.

## Orcs

The Orcs creation myth was lost.

Each Orc society is based around a single family and ruled by a matriarch. These family-based societies are stable, and different societies have different views on their experiences and the origins of the world.

What remains to be true across multiple orc societies encountered in the Ravenlands are as follows:

* They value knowledge, insight, and wisdom
* They tend to largely be matriarchal, with the oldest and wisest guiding their complex family led clans.
* They each have their own interpretation of their history.
* The view that orcs enslave their own is patently untrue.
* Almost every clan fought the invading Alderlanders (on the side of the elves/dwarves) and were defeated.
* The views of individual orcs are more-or-less imposed by their leaders.
* Male orcs are capable of speech.

1: Dwarves and Elves, longstanding partners in trade and commerce, betrayed them and stole their god from them. Coercing them into wars against the humans with the promise of returning their God to them, but after losing the Humans, they’ve lost their chance, or the leaders who promised died in the battle, leaving no one to know.

2: The Orcs, Dwarves, and Elves fought the Alder Wars. The invading humans attacked Orc lands first, and the dwarves and elves took their sweet time assisting them. The Alderlanders and Orcs bore the worst of the wars with the invaders killing their god, opening the gates for demons.

3: Orcs guided the refugee Ailanders who came across the mountains and showed them how to farm and survive. They lived in relative peace, but both paid a terrible price when the Rust invasion occurred. Or maybe the peace shared was a trick. The Ailender’s Raven flew away with their god and invited the humans from the south to join them.

4.) Create your own based on these universally acknowledged truths

## Wolfkin

* Made up of exiles, refugees, outcasts, and vagabonds of a variety of cultures originally who agreed on a compact to live together away from their original societies.
* The compact is based on tenets of Raven, but split off and centered around self-actualization, body-empowerment, and transfiguring one’s body into more natural forms that reflect one’s form.
* Another primary belief is in the power of music and share complex music and music is seen through their society.
* Due to the constant skirmishes and persecution by Ailenders and others, the society adopted more forms of predatory animals for mutual protection.
* The Alder Wars and demons left them even more fractured.
* The Rust Brothers (Sisters of Heme) coopt their teachings for Heme and demonic experimentation.
* They are unimpeded by the Blood Mist in forests
* Despite their mistrust from other societies, they served pivotal roles of sharing stories, lore, and trading goods during the Blood Mist.
* Their societies let individuals self-select their members.
* You have the option of being more than just a wolf--other woodland--non-alternative-motion-types animals. You still retain the wolfkin talent which is a result of the ritual and cultural foundations of your society.

* Rust Brother and Elf propaganda paints them as demonic, their societies valuing solely physical force and as horseshit as the alpha wolf narrative. A common piece of slander is that wolfkin allegedly take drugs and hunt and eat other kin.

## Halflings and Goblins

* Halfling’s society has some concerning stuff in them. I’d rather just call out their drug and child abusive culture.
* They enjoy competitive games and physical competitions
* variations of halfling culture have pointed their love of competing - some are cosmopolitan traders eager to one up their fellow merchants, an animistic adoration of their homeland and deplore any intruders into their “peace” ( toxic homeowner associations), or even a few places are known for their martial skill and served as mercenaries on both sides of the alder wars. Hot Fuzz village vibes.

* different opinions on their goblin kin.

* Goblins

??? I need a hand here to describe them other than reject halflings. My brain is frying
Goblins radically don’t dislike anyone.
Ponder it some more -- we need thoughts. What if we just make goblins into a single kin of halflings with different physical aspects?

## Non-Player Kins

### Ogres

Ogres are a solitary, preexisting, species that predate even the elves and dwarves but refuse to cooperate. They’re fickle and extremely prone to violent outbursts. They’re solitary by nature.

(deep lore -- they were once doomsday preppers who saw the ruby comet that brought the elves as the end of the world. Their attempts to stop blew up in their face, caused the comet to scatter and the magical residue left them in there new permanent, aggressive state)

### Saurians

They are a preexisting species who trades but their language is complex and unspeakable by other Kin. They must stay near water. Their written language and records are even more indecipherable than their native language. They prefer a “traders cant” using lots of signs and prefer trading for metal. Their origins are unknown but they are decidedly fractious and prone to internal strife, which they appear to welcome.

### Whiners

They are cunning insects of a hive-like community who burrow into stone whose glands are able to convert stone and minerals for sustenance. Like stone termites. Their bodies excrete stone they eat but keep iron and heavier metals inside of them, leading them to be greedily captured and harvested. Attempts at farming them always fail with many different theories as to why. They aren’t sentient and yeeted into the bestiary.