|
Exilian | |||||
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The Exiles of the War |
Kinship |
Kor, Kin, Kith, Caravan | |||
|
Speed |
30 |
Values |
Family, Freedom, Honor, Responsibility | ||
|
Wealth Bonus |
15 sp |
Skills | |||
|
Height |
54 to 66 in. |
Trait |
Hearty, Vital | ||
|
Weight |
100 to 175 lbs. |
Talent |
Skill | ||
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Lifespan |
125 years |
Tell |
Disadvantage Charisma | ||
|
Hair Colors |
#A36B21 |
#4F3309 |
#CE1704 |
#000000 |
#FCFDD7 |
|
Eye Colors |
#CCFFFF |
#311F05 |
#75D1AE |
#4F3309 |
#FBDF11 |
Legacy
The wanderers of the world, the Exilian are a group of people who move in large caravans that are comprised of the four Kiths of the leader of the Caravan.
As the God’s War began, the Exilian were the 25 houses that choose not to participate in any of the war, instead moving out into the world and becoming the Exilian people they are known as today. They would cross battlefields and scavenge, they would brave wastes, they would map and learn the world and its dangers, and they would have a different view from others.
Exilian are Humans, but they chose to avoid the God’s War as much as possible and began to travel and became an Exiled people, staying among all the others eventually. It was an Exilian who brought the first knowledge of the Tritons and the Islanders.
Exilian are a nomadic people, traveling throughout the world in their Caravans, which can number as many as a thousand people.
Theirs is a unique and peculiar heritage and homeland that is difficult to pin down, for they are not a settled people. They refuse to acknowledge the Empire as having authority over them, they have no hamlet or village or steading, and they move in Caravans that are everything to them. Exilian are often identified by the way they decorate themselves, using ornate tattoos and embedded cabochons of assorted import and meaning within their skin, as well as through the peculiar and often rigid cultural norms they have that differ markedly from the rest of the World.
When most people stopped, they kept moving. They seek, each Caravan, a fabled land called Atalanta. It is there that they will rest, that they will stop their ceaseless journey, that they will set down roots. They say that they see it, sometimes, bits and pieces, parts and portions, but it remains elusive, and until they find it they will travel. It was promised to them, and they merely await it being made.
A large contingent of them is said to be trapped around Karovia, in Sibola, but they can be encountered almost anywhere. They do not enter towns or cities in full Caravans, and they set their temporary camps outside the bounds of villages and hamlets and steadings.
They are self-sufficient, but usually willing to trade or barter, and they have a reputation among cities and towns that is less than upstanding.
Exilian are fiercely independent, and cross the line between Heritage and Homeland, for their heritage is their homeland and their homeland is their heritage. They do not like outsiders and for some reason no known pairing between them and other humans has produced anything but Exilian. More interesting, when they pair with demihumans, the issue is always an Exilian.
Many places have outlawed them, but no one dares to enforce such. Only the Agency, which makes a strong point when dealing with them that they are meant to be free and to wander, has ever had much influence or say. To many this is a shock, because it seems to most that the Agency protects the Exilians.
The Exilian were nearly destroyed in the cataclysm, it is said, and few were as devastated by Skyfall as they, the very world they knew and had traversed changing beneath their feet. As a result, few know the broader world as well as the Exilian, and even fewer fully understand them for they claim to carry on traditions from before the God’s War, and trace lines back into the Age of Dreams.
Tradition
They are isolating, traditionalist, sybaritic and bohemian, and known for their love of music, of dance, of romance, of children, of good food and long stories well told, of hospitality and absolute devotion to the rules and ideals that they have carried with them since before the end of the God’s War.
Exilian are itinerant, and so they often will do things like work fields, or support fairs or provide essential services.
Always, however, they hew to the rule of 7 days. No Caravan ever stops for longer than Seven days, and most will reduce that to three days, to avoid it. It is believed that seven days is a sacred marking point, and means a connection is forged that must thereafter be honored. During the last Skyfall, the Nomlis Caravan was trapped for nine days in a wild place, and so every year they claim that must return tot hat place to honor it, staying for nine days before leaving. The Agency has marked the space as sacred t them.
They are not Guilders, but within their caravans they often have those who have the skills and experience to do the work, they merely refuse to pay tithes or dues and are unconcerned as to others using them or not.
Exilian will often knock three times on wood to ward off bad luck, and they tend to be superstitious, but not about the normal things. They think that cats crossing your path is a bad thing, and that doors should always be walked through right foot first. Strange things.
Exilians value Family, Freedom, Honor, and Responsibility. These are drilled into them at a young age and persist beyond the time they grow. Exilians are proud, protective, and principled, and while they are often accused of being thieves and rogues, they take strong comfort in knowing that the truth will out, and they are not answerable to any but their own.
Exilian do not have a Realm, a Homeland. They are a tight knit, isolating, nomadic people that live and die by the rules of their family, and that limits their ability to receive benefits from some of the other Realms. Their home is the Caravan, their homeland whatever lies beneath the sky they look up to see.
Kinship
Each Caravan is headed by a group of five people. This group always has two men, two women, and someone who is neither of those.
Forty-nine Caravans comprise the whole of the Exilian, and none of them get along well with any of the others, but they all share the common trait of those who are not Exilian are better enemies than those who are. By most estimates, they are not more in number than ten to fifteen thousand.
The caravan is the life of the Exilian – it is home, it is family, it is all that is good and noble and trustworthy in the world. Exilian do not stop for long in any given place, and they are often caught up in challenges and vendettas with other Caravans that act as urgings to move on.
Marriages outside their own groups are extremely rare and often not welcomed, and often involve arranged marriages. One will enter into the family of the other and leave their Caravan. Such marriages are typically between caravans, in order to ensure both peace and alliance, as well as to avoid unpleasant surprises. There is often a price paid by the Caravan gaining a member to the one losing a member. This is a key and important element, for the Caravan leader controls the whole, including the money. They receive a large amount of all the income from the whole Caravan, and that is what is used to buy the things needed as they travel, ensuring their independence.
Vendetta is a kind of debt of blood and honor, and it is always held between Kiths. Within a Caravan, it will be settled privately, always away from the eyes of outsiders, with satisfaction being first blood. Between Caravans, it can escalate greatly.
A Caravan may be spread out over hundreds of miles, each Family in a Korf of their own, sometimes together within a kin, sometimes with a Kith, but the ability of a Carvan to spread out and still permit independence can sometimes surprise those outside them – even if one is fortunate enough to know they use messenger birds.
Attacks are often made on Exilian Korfs, which are large, rounded wagons drawn by teams of draft horses and surrounded by the simple lean-tos and awnings that they use. A Korf is where all their belongings are stored, where they retreat to in cramped emergencies, where the young are kept until old enough to help out, taught and identified for what they will do, and even traded on occasion if the temperament of a child is not suited to that of a parent.
Exilians are raised by their caravan. An Exilian whose Korf is slaughtered and is abandoned is mourned and wept and gnashed about, but unless they are found, they will be raised outside the caravan and will no longer be thought of as Exilian.
Perspective
The Exilian are a smiling people, with mischievous eyes and an openness of expression. They are human, but they are also not like those humans of the empire, and they trend towards a higher-than-normal number of persons who have a capacity to use Mana.
As they travel, they bring entertainment, exotic flavor, and surprises – as well as being seen as dangerous and untrustworthy.
Those born outside a Caravan will have an urge to move, to travel, to be on, and will have rarely been in any single place more than a week at a time.
They love good food, spicy and flavorful, and are particular to baked casseroles and stews.
Stigmas
Exilian are blamed for all manner of things that they may or may not have done – and there is a strong sense of mistrust. They have been accused of kidnapping children, accused of eating them, accused of theft and robbery and fraud, accused of laying curses on crops and destroying entire harvests.
While these accusations are rarely successful in proving something, the wandering nature and short term stay of people at different locations is considered part of how they get away with it, and they are often blamed after the fact for things that happened while they were present, presenting them with surprises when they do return.
Appearance
Exilian are shorter than typical humans, with long limbs, short torsos, and large eyes that are round or oval in shape. They tend towards smaller noses, with well-proportioned ears, and a peculiar thinness to their lips. They have medium set cheekbones and square jaws that some see as less aesthetically pleasing, but they are also famous for seeming to avoid aging.
Although Humans, Exilian are markedly different in coloration, and often use temporary skin dyes to blend temporarily into populations to avoid assault or worse. What is notable is that Exilian are paler in complexion, and tend to have different hair and eye coloration, and this is said among the Exilian that the reason and cause is that their ancestors sought to be nomadic, to avoid being part of the broader world, and so faded, and that they are entitled to their own ways and their wandering.
Qualities
Exilians are the wanderers of the world, who began wandering to avoid (and some say benefit from the aftermath of) the War of the Gods. They did not partake in the battles, and they have clung to ancient traditions and superstitions.
Special
Trait
Exilians are often unwilling to back down and tend to be willing to put themselves out there. Each day an Exilian can recover 1 point of lost Heart or Vitality (their choice), regardless of their modifier or condition.
Talent
As an Exilian, you can choose one skill from: Juggling, Acrobatics, Dance, Tumbling, Contortion, Distract, Deceive.
Tell
Exilians are considered deeply untrustworthy and take a -1 to any Cha rolls when dealing with others.
