Folkin

WHO ARE THE FOLKIN?

The Folkin are humanoid race of diminutive size who look much like Gnomes and Duervar but are of middling height with large feet and rotund faces. They are otherwise proportionately similar to humans.

THEIR HERITAGE

After the fall of the Duervan Empire, and when the Gnomes and other Fey Races did not rise to populate the world, Naeja decided to create a race that would posses the traits these others did not. Hence the Folkin came to be. She made them excellent engineers, so that they could build their homes anywhere, and gave them a natural understanding of the earth and agriculture so they could make farms. She gave them a sense of community, so they would live together in civilizations, but also a sense of individuality to promote creativeness and diversity. She made them passive so they would not wage war with each other, but gave them great courage so they could defend their homelands. She gave them curiosity in their youth so they would explore the world and populate it, but also gave them a sedentary nature in their latter lives so that once they found a home they would stay there. She made them talented artisans and writers so they could record their histories and pass on their legacies. She even made them stalwart and stoic so they would live long lives and very rarely become ill and die early deaths. All of this she did, and thought it was good.
Naeja believed the Folkin would come to rule all of her world and live in harmony; however, they did not. Instead they found the first places of vast farmable land they could find and built their homes there; beneath the hills so that no land would go wasted. They then set up a perfect civilization of peace and prosperity that only saw war when defending it from outside evils. Their young traveled all over the world learning new things, but they would always return home to their brethren in order to maintain their own communities. Very few new civilizations arose, usually when necessity called for new homesteads. Instead they sat in their homes perfecting their crafts and writing down every menial detail of their lives. They even made a cultural choice to try not to have more children than two per couple, so that they would never outgrow their means. Why were they like this? Because Naeja had forgotten to give them only one thing, ambition. For the Folk people have very little desire to become anything except useful members of their own communities.
Hence, it came to be that the Folkin are what they are now. They are often seen as boring common beings that seek little adventure and travel, except in their youth, but never for too long. They are often overlooked or walked all over by other races, but they strive on, and their own civilizations have lasted longer than any other race’s. Surprisingly the corruption has not had much influence upon these people. Some have been drawn by a dark curiosity, but that is usually in their youth, and as the wisdom of old age sets in they often part from these foolish ways.
The Folkin are a people of many beliefs and superstitions. They came to a world filled with they Fey, and thus they had to learn to cope with the Faerie races and their many tricks and capricious temperaments. Eventually the Fey began returning to their other world of Adinion, but they have left behind many superstitions. For example, Folkin respect all flowering plants, refusing to pick them until after their buds have fallen off, because each has a faerie responsible for it. To offend the plant is to offend the faerie. Folkin believe that a squeaky floor board means a Bogum is angry, and thus you must put a piece of un-risen bread under the floor board before nailing it back down tightly. This will keep the Bogum happy and the floor board will not creak again.
The Folkin are also a religious people, though they don’t bother much with churches or ceremony. Instead they thank the gods and celebrate them in all the ways they live. Most have at least three or four shrines to the deities in their homes, and give them regular offertories through out the day.

Social Classes:

Amongst the Folkin the following best describes each Social Class (see Character Creation).
Lower-lower Class:
Upper-Lower Class:
Lower-Middle Class:
Upper-Middle Class:
Lower-Upper Class:

THE KINFOLK

The Folkin have, over the many long millenia, come to reside primarily in three different parts of the world. Because of their sedentary nature they rarely interact and almost never migrate from one place to the other. Thus, the three cultures have developed distinctively and physically into three "kinfolk" (note: this is not the same as "kinfolk" of the Keid). These are those three sub-races:

NOTE: these are working titles and will be changed when I come up with good terms.

The Underhills:
Long have the Folkin lived in the Folklands called the "Heath and Loch" of northern Rona. Their homes are built beneath tall hills and they have farmed the vast arable fields for longer than the duneimen have walked the world. The Underhill are the most commonly known of the Folkin. Well known for their connection to the land, the underhill are the stoutest and hardiest of their kin. They are, though, not known to be great warriors, and have the least heroes in their legends. They aren't cowardly, per se, just incredibly cautious. They are the least curious of their kin in younger years and settle down earliest in later years.

The Valley Folk:
Deep in the valley between the Tharaduum mountains and the ???? forest of Moar, are the homesteads of the Valley Folk. They claim to have to come to this land when their people were scattered by the orcs, before the coming of the duneimen. The Valley Folk are few in number for they are often preyed upon by the voracious monsters in this beautiful though dangerous land. Their homes are stone domas built into the hard verdant earth. They farm, but are also known to keep small herds of cats for milk. Well known for their courage and tenacity, the Valley Folk have a quick hand and a strong force of will. They are not known to be particularly wise, and it seems that many of their youth are often victims of their own curiosity. Thus, the families often have twice as many children, with the full expectation that most won't live to see adulthood.

The City Folk:
For over a thousand years the duneimen have built their homes in close proximity behind walled enclosures and in places such as Rona they welcomed the folkin into this society. It was thus inevitable that some folkin would become fixtures of towns, villages and large cities. Over the time that has passed they have become a distinctive people. The City Folk are a fairly common lot in particular places and the most often seen fraternizing with other races. Their homes are built within the normal expectations of the people they live among, but always have a folkin flare that is noticeable to those in the know. The lower floors of their houses are usually built to the height of duneimen, but upper levels are noticeably shorter and they often have the quaint architecture found among the Underhills. Well known for their keen minds, they usually flourish as private business owners and bankers. They are not particularly tough, but they are as curious in their youth as any other folkin and because of their natural dexterity as young men and women quite a few fall in with local thieves guilds. This usually doesn't last long, though, as their morals are often strong enough to contend with poor choices. As with other Folkin, in their maturity they return to their home neighborhood and usually take over the family business or start a new one.

Folkin and Magic

Now, you will notice there is no mention of magic. I haven’t given them a full write up, but basically it ends up being something like this. In their youth and curiosity, the Folkin have often experimented with magic. Many have been known to seek out wizards to apprentice under. Unfortunately as middle age sets in their natural tendency to become sedentary means they often lose interest in magic and the constant attention it requires. They usually retain the most limited of ability, and many who learned to be wizards never even bother to memorize spells until they think they will need them. They do, however, keep very good records of what they know. This has led to large libraries of magical writing (usually limited to up to 3rd level spells). The young often find these books in the libraries, become incredibly interested, try to learn it on their own or seek out a master, and study it for a decade or two before finally giving in to the quiet malaise of their older years.

Now, as for priests it’s a different story. There aren’t many Folkin specific gods. They generally worship the Druidic gods, and tend to see them as Folkin. For example, Myrrha (marriage and family) and Morin (agriculture) are depicted as Halflings and are two of the most commonly worshipped deities. They tend to have a lot of legendary heroes (mostly became legendary in their youth and either died or retired). Generally speaking Halflings are Druids or specialty priest of gods like Chionanthus, the lore keeper. They have no problem adopting gods from other religions, if those gods fit their ideals.

Halflings are particularly adept at defending their homes with great courage, but they are not naturally good at war. In fact they intentionally try not to build walls around their cities because they believe it incites invasion and/or destruction. The youthful, though, are always quite surprising and many have become great warriors. These are some of their legendary heroes.

Folkin Gods

Folkin Game Statistics

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