Who is this guy? (Help me tell his story)

My players are on a long journey through high, snowy mountains in the middle of winter. They are being harried by a tribe of orcs who bear them a grudge. Also, unbeknownst to the party, Imperial agents are on their trail. The party is escorting their baroness and her newborn son, and wants to protect these two at all costs. The imperials are trying to kill the baby, who is next in line to be emperor. (The current emperor is not nicknamed Kinslayer for nothing.)

So along the way, they will run into a group of people like the fellow in the attached picture. I thought that these elk riders might help the party out, maybe hiding them, or taking them to safety through hidden paths, or something along those lines. Do any of you have suggestions along those lines? Who are these people, how do they live, and why would they help the party?

Edit: This picture was created by EN World poster Littlejohn, aka David Hendee. As you can see, he does remarkable work. I hope he doesn't mind that I've posted this image here. Littlejohn, if you see this, and you would like me to remove your image, you have only to say so, and I will do it. Thanks for inspiring me, and so many other people.

His name is Tun of the clans, warrior preist of the Elk god. It is said he is a strong as the white bear, honorable, his deeds and words truthful and wise. He is of the wandering herds by nature, moving from clan to clan bring justice to the oath breakers and settling were guilds. It is told by the camp fires how he crossed the blue ice, it cracking under him, to save a family from snow apes.

The clans live as nomads moving with the elk herds, honorable and trustful, a person's word is their bond and it is expected to be kept. They lead a hard life in the snow. Clan and family are important to them, issues are normally handled person to person but if things like clan war is about to start, people like Tun above settle things as the voice of the gods. Clans are rulled by the elders.

The warrior preist are paladins, the chosen of the the Elk god, given the Dire Elk as a mount, the justice spear is their holy weapon. The Elk god domains are Law, Strenght, & ?.

The clans use a lot of totem magic, small object to protect from evil and the hunger. The greatest fear is the Hungry One, a god of Starvation and Freezing, he that consumes. It he that creates the wendingo and the night hunters (vampires).

I'd agree, although when I first saw the picture I though he was one of the evils hunting them down, but now I've heard that story I'm convinced.

That is Kepal, Elk Rider of the the Sun'aden. (The People)

The Sun'aden are a tribe of wild elves that live in relative isolation in their snow covered villages. Unlike their forest dwelling kin they do not have an abundance of natural resources to make their way through the long years of their lives. Instead each day is a fight for survival for these people. The winters are the worst. It is during this time of white that that game becomes even scarcer and these people balance upon the knifes edge of survival.

They are ruled by a leader called the Tul'Mar. The Tul'Mar is both a spiritual guide for the elves and their battle leader. He is advised by the three eldest elves in the tribe. These fiercely proud poeple though will bar no one from speaking to the Tul'Mar and stating what he or she thinks concerning this issue. This can lead to rather boisterous "discussions" within the chambers of the Tul'Mar while the poeple make their wishes known. But once the Tul'Mar has decided, his word is law. The Tul'Mar is chosen by the elders of the tribe, when the previous one dies or steps down.

They subsist through the hunting of game animals, and the gathering of the bounty of the forest during the meager spring they have each year. They cultivate the bushes and trees that grow berries, encouraging them to grow. When the berries are harvested they are crushed and added to the dried game meat to produce a past like trail ration called Lammus. This is carried by all hunters and scouts in skin pouches in case they are trapped by a sudden storm while they are away from their home.

Because of the harsh climate that these elves live in, causing high mortality, and the normally low birthrate of elves, children are seen as a great blessing. They are the great renewal of life, without them the tribe would die out. They are protected fiercely by the tribe and if a child is injured by an outsider, the entire tribe may mobilize to exact revenge. This reverence of children is extended, to a lesser extent, to all the creatures of the mountains as each child born is a renewal of the resources of the mountains.

The Elk Riders are the elite guard of these wild elves. They form a mystical bond with their mounts and are the first line of defense for the elves. They patrol far and wide around their settlement looking for any type of threat, their elk their only companion. When they discover a threat they will eliminate it if they can, or if it is to much for them they will return to their people and gather a sufficient number to destroy it.

No intruder is welcome within the lands of the snow elves, for even a few such intruders could upset the delicate balance between what nature can provide and what the elves need. Most such intruders are warned away by an Elk Rider that will seem to materialize from the blowing powder. Any that do not head this warning are dealt with more forcibly. The elves do not view these actions as malicious, it is a simple matter of survival. If it comes down to a group of interlopers that will not leave even after they’ve been warned, and their own people, they know who must be protected.

These elves bear a particular grudge against all goblinoids because of the abuse these creature cause to the fragile environment. Life in the mountains is harsh enough to maintain, but when orcs or goblins arrive they will strip a land clean, foul it beyond recognition, and then move on to do it again. These elves treat these creatures as a plague of locusts. A dangerous threat that must be eliminated, And the entire tribe may march to war against a particularly large band of them.

So with this as a background I’d picture these folks as very fierce, and very quite to outsiders. Saying what must be said and that it is all. They would at first be hostile to the party until they see the baby. At this point they would soften, allowing the characters back to their villiage and would help them. Always for the sake of the child they would say. It is a this point the characters would get to see the softer side of the elves. Amongst their own people and with their children.

When it is discovered that the party is being chased by the orcs, either initially, or later after they’ve been brought back to the tribes home they will see the fierce snow elves marshalling for war. The characters will have to assist the elves in destroying this threat since they are the ones that have brought this plague to them.

Hmm, longer than I had set out for. Sorry. I just get long winded sometimes. Let me know if this helps or if you wanted something different.

(Edited for Grammer)

Wow, Ashrum! That's excellent. You wove all the essential parts in quite well. And there is another thing you didn't know. So far, no one in the party has ever met an elf, because the elves on this world turned to the worship of Pelnar, god of Death and Chaos. They recently met their first half-elf, who was the offspring of a human pleasure slave and a priest of Pelnar. This child had been rescued by a high level paladin and raised as his own son.

They'll be fascinated by the idea of snow elves who aren't evil. Hmm. Perhaps their ancestors turned away from Pelnar, but no one would believe they weren't evil, so they were driven out of the warmer, more arable lands....

Anyway, keep the ideas coming folks!

The picture is by David Hendee, who does indeed post here and who has a thread over in the Art thread and a website, which I believe is www.davidhendee.com...

Milo Milequest of the bham bears (a southern hockey team) horrorably disfirgured by an illegal slapshot and stick stroke which was not called. With his face disfirgured, and career in ruins disappeared from his hosptial room years ago.
Just last winter in the ducky of wintermint, a cool hero appeared in the cold wastes. He gives justice to all as he roams the wasteland with electric elk Eddy. However Our hero does has his flaws. He is known to give extreme wedgies to bullies and other kids who make fun of people looks.

Glad you liked it. I've been working on my AU world a lot recently and I guess I was still in world design mode when I wrote this for you. It got a lot longer than I had intended, but this just seemed to flow.

I like putting in details that can flesh out a people and make them seem more alive to the players. And since I've been researching native american tribes in preparation for designing my Litorian tribes it put me in the perfect frame of mind to do these elves I suppose.

BTW, the picture was awsome and really captures the feeling of a fantasy feral tribe living in the mountains. Nice choice in using it.

he is of the Ko-ur riders. the Ko'ur riders have no sympathy in their hearts for any adult, but see children as perfect and unspoiled. whilst they will offer no help to the party outside of possibly pointing in the general direction the party wishes to go they will take the child and offer to keep it safe until it is of age to rule the kingdom.

in their magically lit and heated icecaves these people may be the safest spot for the child to be, after all, what kind of madman comes all the way out here?

or, the party could leave eveidence that they left the child with the Ko'ur and move on, hoping the orcs stop to fight these mounted warriors, giving hem more time to escape with the child.

(littlejohn rocks!)

To establish a point of view other than Ashrums.


The Imperials are trailing the group. Because of the importance and fragile nature of this mission, Kinslayer chose a small group of adventurers that he had used before for wet work.

One of the adventurers know of the snow elves too, and when they get tot he area, surmised that that's where they were heading.

When the orc threat happens, The Imperial will help the snow elves and party to fight the orcs. However this is just a ploy, the Imperial's mission is to make sure that the child is dead or never heard from again. One of the Imperial group will try to kill either the baroness or the child, knowing of the elves they will kill the baroness and force the elves to adopt the child. The Imperials then go away.

As the years progress and the child grows up not knowing of his origin. When his manhood rites are done, the elves tell him of his birthright and he will return to the lands of the humans.

By then the group might be higher in level and who knows, this might just become an epic adventure to oust the Emperor who thought the child is dead.
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OR
The Imperials find out about the elk riders. They push the orcs into the direction of the elves and they are disguised amongst the orcs to try to kill the baroness, child, and the party.

-grins-