Ancestry and Cultural Heritage in WovenRealm

In most fantasy settings, it is common to find cultural divides are often made between the 'races' of the setting. In *WovenRealm'*s setting of Evarencia, a character's culture is often tied to a **Cultural Heritage** and not necessarily to the **ancestry** of folk that they are. A character's ancestry or 'race' determines physical and mechanical characteristics about them whereas it is more often their Cultural Heritage that determines where they come from, the languages they speak, religions they practice, the ways they socialize, and many of the other complex aspects that make up a culture.

## Mechanics

In the *13th Age* ruleset, ancestries are referred to as 'race.' The corebook contains 12 playable races. The *Book of Ages* contains an additional set of 7 additional races for players to choose from. The *Bestiary 2* contains an additional race for players to choose. Worth noting is the fact that the elves are given their own space as a playable race, unlike traditional *Dungeons & Dragons* style RPGs; the usual tendency is to give elves one over arching race and to be divided into subraces.

In *13th Age*, a character's race provides them with an Ability Score increase they can choose between two stats presented by a character's race. A character also receives an additional stat increase from their class, as to prevent races from being locked into certain class archetypes, an issue often prevalent in the d20 fantasy genre of RPGs. Each race comes with a special power, unique to each race, that they can use once per battle. With the 3rd party sourcebook *Dark Alleys & Twisted Paths* by Kinoko Games, races are also able to take special feats.

The players in *WovenRealm* were given the ability to choose between any of the officially published, non-3rd party races.

Beyond the official *13th Age* materials, 3rd party sources provide a variety of race options. Racial options can also be easily supplemented with homebrew given the relative mechanical simplicity.

### *13th Age* core rulebook races:

* Dark Elf
* Dragonic/Dragonspawn (dragon-blooded folk, referred to as Draconian)
* Dwarf
* Forgeborn/Dwarf-Forged (Automatons, called Sentinel in *WovenRealm*)
* Gnome
* Half-elf
* Halfling (referred to as Kindred folk or Tuft in setting)
* Holy One/Aasimar
* Half-orc
* High Elf
* Human
* Tiefling/Demontouched (Also called Dreadborn)
* Wood Elf

### *Book of Ages* races:

* Alleykin (catflok, called Felpurr in *WovenRealm)*
* Arcanite
* Beastblooded
* Lizardman (called Lizardfolk in *WovenRealm*.)
* Space Corps Explorer (used as statistics for augmented Steam Priests or variant constructs like Sentinels)
* Spiritborn
* Unholy One

## Ancestries in *WovenRealm*

As noted, some of the races statistics are used to represent different concepts than originally intended as is the case of the Space Corps Explorer, while others simply have had their name changed to better fit their lore in the setting as seen with:

* Alleykin, as catfolk, are known in Evarencia by the 'felpurr' name as to commonly used names by other properties in the RPG space, such as 'tabaxi' as seen in *Dungeons and Dragons* or 'khajit' as seen in the *Elder Scrolls* series.
* Forgeborn, being constructs, are known as sentinels, which was the name given to the construct people originally by the setting creator.

Ancestries unique to the *WovenRealm* setting not found in the official rules include:

* Firbolg/yeti: This set of folk covers large, hairy folk often likened to yetis or sasquatches of cyrtid fame. The 'name' bugbear found for an hairy, ogrish goblinoid in *D&D* is also used interchangeably with firbolgs and yetis.
* Half-giant: Folk who have a giant-kin in their bloodline and visibly present giant-like features are often referred to as 'half-giants' often due to their size.
* Half-ogre: Similar to half-elves, folk who share both human and ogre heritage.
* Homunculus: Artificial, organic creatures created as a result of alchemy.
* Kobold: Small, raccoon-like draconic creatures known for the dog-like noises they make.
* Ogre: Giant-kin considered a classic monster in many fantasy settings, ogres in Evarencia are more than monsters.
* Pulsar Lich (also called Helios): A stellar remnant that has taken on the form of a mortal. Vastly powerful due to their cosmic origin.

Although some cultures were separated along ancestry lines throughout Evarencia's history, throughout time, as the folk of the realm mingled, they came together to form a wide variety of cultures that adopted pieces of various parts of the people who formed these unique cultures. So long has this synthesis been occurring that, unlike traditional fantasy settings, half-elves are arguably one of, if not THE, majority population of the setting. A large part of this can be observed in the history of the Alfenheim Empire and their assimilation into what would become Higardi culture as well as the formation of the Forest Folk who would go onto form the Ellondee people of the Anticos region.

There are still some ancestral divides witnessed in Evarencia, as seen with some of the unique pantheons and religions of some folk, such as elves and dwarves. Their gods often may crossover between various pantheons, often taking on additional names. This is well observed and noted throughout the course of the first season of *WovenRealm* discussing how the Resolute Maiden, Celeste, is also the elven goddess Selenae Moonbow. Many unique pantheons have developed in these cultures as is the case in Selusia's faith, taking gods and deities from various places. Some elven cultures are well known in the setting for wanting to maintain their ancient tradition, as they see themselves as the lost children of their gods in Arcadia.

## Cultures

There are a wide variety of cultures in Evarencia. They have been developed by either the GMs and often have great input from the players in shaping them. Alex cites history and historical cultures for his inspiration, but he likes to use them as a basis to craft a realistic culture that is still both unique to the setting and able to make historical sense in terms of the Evarencia's unique history. Cultures in Evarencia have developed well past racial lines, with those who hold tightly onto those divides being seen as conservative or traditionalist, as is the case with the elves of Eastern Maywikt. Other cultures feature a wide array of various demographics and are often the result of ancestral groups beginning to live as one people instead of as separate folk.

The relationships between ancestries is often dictated by the culture of a region. As Imperial Kovith is a society built around a demon slaying saint, some Kovithians may view tieflings with intolerance. Other cultures, such as the Higardi, are highly tolerant. As is the case in many settings and the real world, cultures are often divided by language and religious practices. In *WovenRealm*, culture is often a major part of a character's identity and is so in a way that is just as important as their ancestry, if not more-so in many cases.

### Cultures of Player Characters in *WovenRealm*

* Albion Folk
* Higardi
* Felpurr (Exile and Orthodox)
* Kovithian
* Sojourner
* Alfenheim

### Cultures encountered in *WovenRealm*

* Felpurr (Exile and Orthodox)
* Albion Folk
* Higardi
* Silver Blade Nomads
* Selusian
* Kovithian
* Alfenheim
* Inari
* Oni Dust Warden
* Sojourner
* Yangliv
* Mekkenheim
* Knights of the Radiant Heart
* Toratag Pirates
* Nihniite
* Ironsworn

### Cultures referenced in *WovenRealm*

* Urndvykian
* Ellondee

## Languages

Languages in Evarencia tend to be tied to cultures. Sylvan is the language traditionally tied to elves, but it has spread and developed into other languages such as Higardi. Runic is tied to giants and dwarves, and the first language is considered Draconic. Interestingly, Draconic was also adopted as a language by both orcs and the giantkin, such as ogres. Felpurr is noted to incorporate sounds only feline creatures are capable of repeating, giving it a physical barrier that cannot be surpassed naturally.

Common is a synthesis of many different languages that was officially codified after the Battle of New Dawn to be a universal trade language. It comes many variations.

There are many regional and cultural languages in the setting, usually developed from one or more of the four base languages. Certain languages are unique to certain classes, like Druidic or Thieves' Cant.

There are also special languages outside of specific cultures linked to the planes such as Infernal and Celestial. Weave Sign is an arcane language only members of the Weave are able to speak. Starfaring peoples such as the Aedellions and Get'zu have also left their languages behind.

The Under Gothic tongue, like many things demonic, is a corruption of the Higher Gothic language that became integral to occult magic.