Jürgen Hubert
First Post
With Urbis, I originally intended to justify the use of all the rules material in the D&D 3.X core rules. Well, D&D 3.X will be history soon, and so it's time to update the setting for the new edition - but that also means making space for the three new races - the dragonborn, eladrin, and tieflings.
A not insignificant task, but after thinking all of it over, I think I came up with solutions which not only make sense, but even improve some parts of the setting which I wasn't satisfied with before. Here's what I came up with:
Dragonborn:
When the Desert of Thunder came into its own as a true nation, its founder, the blue dragon matriarch Thurangax decided that humans were not good enough as her most favored servants. Instead, she set out to sorcerously create a new race - the dragonborn. Enhancing the base human form with a small fraction of draconic power, a new humanoid race with reptilian features came into being. She did not have to search long for volunteers, for she made clear that the dragonborn would be the mortal elite of her realm - her envoys, senior bureaucrats, and most powerful warriors. Seeing the success of her experiments, the other draconic rulers of the Desert of Thunder imitated her and soon a dragonborn aristocracy governed the realm under the dragons, creating a society built on honorable conduct and loyal service to their overlords.
This lasted for two centuries. But then suddenly Thurangax turned on them and started to systematically slaughter every dragonborn within reach, without bothering to explain herself. After the first dragon who dared to defy her on this issue was slain by her, none of the other dragons dared to openly oppose her - but their resentment was great enough so that they ignored or even encouraged it when many dragonborn escaped from the Desert of Thunder. Those survivors scattered over the Known Lands, vowing never to forget this "Day of Betrayal". Though Thurangax died 10 years later and her successor welcomed the dragonborn into the Desert of Thunder again, few took up her offer, preferring to live as far away from the dragons as possible.
Today, most dragonborn prefer to live in small communities, or even to constantly travel from place to place - to their mind, if they live in any place for too long, the odds will increase that outside forces will attack and destroy them. This has given them a reputation as homeless vagrants among humans, but it did protect them from a number of pogroms that more sedentary races living in human cities have experienced.
As it is to be expected, dragonborns living in human cities tend to rent apartments instead of building their own home, and thus there cannot truly be said to be a ``typical'' dragonborn dwelling. However, they usually try everything they can to make their rooms as warm and dry as possible - in the more northern climates, this often means that a hearth fire burns constantly when they are at home except at the height of summer. Furthermore, if they can afford to they will often throw certain alchemical powders on the fire which will produce a spicy scent - which smells pleasant to them but can be irritating to human neighbors. If possible, several dragonborn will attempt to share a dwelling. Even if they have never met before, dragonborn will almost always invite other dragonborn they encounter to live with them for a few days. In such cases, they will usually exchange stories of their travels and of old legends of their people after night falls. Skillful storytellers at such communal gatherings will receive high praise.
A pragmatic approach towards their migrant lifestyle has ensured that they have few truly fixed gender roles. While male dragonborns will almost invariably move to protect any females in a group if they are being threatened, each dragonborn realizes that he or she might have to survive on his or her own at some point, and ignoring certain skills that might be vital to surivival later on merely based on gender bias would be foolish.
Eladrins:
The literal translation of the elvish word "eladrin" is "noble". And thus, to non-elves, that's what eladrins are - the nobles of the elves. But while this is undoubtedly true, it is not the whole of the truth.
When a newborn child is born to one of the elven noble houses, its house arranges for a special ceremony which must take place no later than one month after the birth, preferably at the next full moon. This ceremony - called the "Taressa Elonil", or "Blessing of the Stars" - is based on ancient pacts with the powers of Faerie and turns the elven child into an eladrin and allows it to access the powers of that plane. This ceremony is vital for receiving its inheritance - without it, it will remain a "common" elf for the rest of its life. In rare cases, an eladrin house will adopt the children born to elven commoners - usually when its parents have done the house a great service - but this adoption will only be valid if these children are blessed within the usual time span after birth. In such cases, the children - now eladrin - are considered to be members of the noble house that adopted them even if they continue to live with their parents (though the sponsoring house will usually arrange for better education and training).
Eladrin from Narevoreen are generally well-liked by their subjects and seen as competent leaders, although the recent political changes have begun to sow seeds of doubt. The eladrin from Avareen are usually rather arrogant and resented by the commoners behind their backs, but as they comprise almost half of the elven population of that realm and most have few hopes of achieving genuine political power, many are quite willing to travel abroad in search of their destiny. As Tuvareen has recently lost the favor of Faerie, its noble houses are unable to create new eladrin, and unless the favor of Faerie can be regained somehow, the eladrin currently coming of age in that realm will be the last of their kind.
Other races are usually unable to distinguish between common elves and eladrin, and usually react depending on the dress and manner of the eladrin they encounter, as well as their impression of elves in general.
Tieflings:
Bad Seeds. That's what most humans consider tieflings, and this view is not entirely without justification.
Mostly born to human mothers, tieflings have a variety of origins. Often they are the result of a course that a fiendish entity or a powerful fey has put on a family. The details of the curse varies - sometimes all the firstborn are born as tieflings, while in other families only one child in each generation is born as one. Regardless, the tieflings born into their midst are almost always a source of shame and horror to these families, and if they are not killed after birth, they are all too often abandoned or locked up in a cellar or attic for the rest of their lives - or until they can escape.
Sometimes they are the result of a mortal woman laying with a fiend - willingly or otherwise - although this is far less common than the many lurid tales of such events might suggest. Far more commonly, the father is a male tiefling, for the child of a tiefling is always another. And sometimes, a woman spontaneously becomes pregnant with a tiefling, with no knowledge of who the father might be - indeed, sometimes even when she is still a virgin. In most such cases, the woman is treated as if she had had actual congress with demons, and cast out from society to live out her life in shame.
Regardless of his origin, a tiefling's life is usually a harsh one - rejected from society, mistrusted by others, a constant reminder of otherworldly forces preying on humans. Most become bitter against human society and lash out against it, which only reaffirms the prejudices humans have against them. Only the rare tiefling who is raised by a tiefling parent has something approaching a "normal" upbringing - but even then he will have to deal with the prejudices of human society.
Sometimes small groups of tieflings gather for mutual support - to have companions who understand their troubles. But many such groups are dispersed by human mobs who invariably suspect them of demon worship (not always unjustified). Those who survive such mobs often come to the conclusion that it is their fate to be all alone in the world. Few can find companions they can truly trust - especially among other races. Those who can will often treasure them beyond all the money in the world.
---------
Your thoughts on these?
And if you plan to use these new races in your own campaigns, how to you plan to retcon them into your settings?
A not insignificant task, but after thinking all of it over, I think I came up with solutions which not only make sense, but even improve some parts of the setting which I wasn't satisfied with before. Here's what I came up with:
Dragonborn:
When the Desert of Thunder came into its own as a true nation, its founder, the blue dragon matriarch Thurangax decided that humans were not good enough as her most favored servants. Instead, she set out to sorcerously create a new race - the dragonborn. Enhancing the base human form with a small fraction of draconic power, a new humanoid race with reptilian features came into being. She did not have to search long for volunteers, for she made clear that the dragonborn would be the mortal elite of her realm - her envoys, senior bureaucrats, and most powerful warriors. Seeing the success of her experiments, the other draconic rulers of the Desert of Thunder imitated her and soon a dragonborn aristocracy governed the realm under the dragons, creating a society built on honorable conduct and loyal service to their overlords.
This lasted for two centuries. But then suddenly Thurangax turned on them and started to systematically slaughter every dragonborn within reach, without bothering to explain herself. After the first dragon who dared to defy her on this issue was slain by her, none of the other dragons dared to openly oppose her - but their resentment was great enough so that they ignored or even encouraged it when many dragonborn escaped from the Desert of Thunder. Those survivors scattered over the Known Lands, vowing never to forget this "Day of Betrayal". Though Thurangax died 10 years later and her successor welcomed the dragonborn into the Desert of Thunder again, few took up her offer, preferring to live as far away from the dragons as possible.
Today, most dragonborn prefer to live in small communities, or even to constantly travel from place to place - to their mind, if they live in any place for too long, the odds will increase that outside forces will attack and destroy them. This has given them a reputation as homeless vagrants among humans, but it did protect them from a number of pogroms that more sedentary races living in human cities have experienced.
As it is to be expected, dragonborns living in human cities tend to rent apartments instead of building their own home, and thus there cannot truly be said to be a ``typical'' dragonborn dwelling. However, they usually try everything they can to make their rooms as warm and dry as possible - in the more northern climates, this often means that a hearth fire burns constantly when they are at home except at the height of summer. Furthermore, if they can afford to they will often throw certain alchemical powders on the fire which will produce a spicy scent - which smells pleasant to them but can be irritating to human neighbors. If possible, several dragonborn will attempt to share a dwelling. Even if they have never met before, dragonborn will almost always invite other dragonborn they encounter to live with them for a few days. In such cases, they will usually exchange stories of their travels and of old legends of their people after night falls. Skillful storytellers at such communal gatherings will receive high praise.
A pragmatic approach towards their migrant lifestyle has ensured that they have few truly fixed gender roles. While male dragonborns will almost invariably move to protect any females in a group if they are being threatened, each dragonborn realizes that he or she might have to survive on his or her own at some point, and ignoring certain skills that might be vital to surivival later on merely based on gender bias would be foolish.
Eladrins:
The literal translation of the elvish word "eladrin" is "noble". And thus, to non-elves, that's what eladrins are - the nobles of the elves. But while this is undoubtedly true, it is not the whole of the truth.
When a newborn child is born to one of the elven noble houses, its house arranges for a special ceremony which must take place no later than one month after the birth, preferably at the next full moon. This ceremony - called the "Taressa Elonil", or "Blessing of the Stars" - is based on ancient pacts with the powers of Faerie and turns the elven child into an eladrin and allows it to access the powers of that plane. This ceremony is vital for receiving its inheritance - without it, it will remain a "common" elf for the rest of its life. In rare cases, an eladrin house will adopt the children born to elven commoners - usually when its parents have done the house a great service - but this adoption will only be valid if these children are blessed within the usual time span after birth. In such cases, the children - now eladrin - are considered to be members of the noble house that adopted them even if they continue to live with their parents (though the sponsoring house will usually arrange for better education and training).
Eladrin from Narevoreen are generally well-liked by their subjects and seen as competent leaders, although the recent political changes have begun to sow seeds of doubt. The eladrin from Avareen are usually rather arrogant and resented by the commoners behind their backs, but as they comprise almost half of the elven population of that realm and most have few hopes of achieving genuine political power, many are quite willing to travel abroad in search of their destiny. As Tuvareen has recently lost the favor of Faerie, its noble houses are unable to create new eladrin, and unless the favor of Faerie can be regained somehow, the eladrin currently coming of age in that realm will be the last of their kind.
Other races are usually unable to distinguish between common elves and eladrin, and usually react depending on the dress and manner of the eladrin they encounter, as well as their impression of elves in general.
Tieflings:
Bad Seeds. That's what most humans consider tieflings, and this view is not entirely without justification.
Mostly born to human mothers, tieflings have a variety of origins. Often they are the result of a course that a fiendish entity or a powerful fey has put on a family. The details of the curse varies - sometimes all the firstborn are born as tieflings, while in other families only one child in each generation is born as one. Regardless, the tieflings born into their midst are almost always a source of shame and horror to these families, and if they are not killed after birth, they are all too often abandoned or locked up in a cellar or attic for the rest of their lives - or until they can escape.
Sometimes they are the result of a mortal woman laying with a fiend - willingly or otherwise - although this is far less common than the many lurid tales of such events might suggest. Far more commonly, the father is a male tiefling, for the child of a tiefling is always another. And sometimes, a woman spontaneously becomes pregnant with a tiefling, with no knowledge of who the father might be - indeed, sometimes even when she is still a virgin. In most such cases, the woman is treated as if she had had actual congress with demons, and cast out from society to live out her life in shame.
Regardless of his origin, a tiefling's life is usually a harsh one - rejected from society, mistrusted by others, a constant reminder of otherworldly forces preying on humans. Most become bitter against human society and lash out against it, which only reaffirms the prejudices humans have against them. Only the rare tiefling who is raised by a tiefling parent has something approaching a "normal" upbringing - but even then he will have to deal with the prejudices of human society.
Sometimes small groups of tieflings gather for mutual support - to have companions who understand their troubles. But many such groups are dispersed by human mobs who invariably suspect them of demon worship (not always unjustified). Those who survive such mobs often come to the conclusion that it is their fate to be all alone in the world. Few can find companions they can truly trust - especially among other races. Those who can will often treasure them beyond all the money in the world.
---------
Your thoughts on these?
And if you plan to use these new races in your own campaigns, how to you plan to retcon them into your settings?
