The MOONFAE

The Silvered Elves

The Moonfae were a race of Elves thought to have vanished from the world shortly after the advent of Common Men. They wielded great influence within the Unseelie Court and among the Elder Races in The Time Before.

Unlike most other Elves, the Moonfae did not fully shed their ephemeral Faerie nature and were seen as aloof even by the standards of their kind, with unfathomable moods and motives. They were reputed astrologers and keepers of arcane secrets, who blended Fae chaos magic and druidic mysticism with dark energies drawn from the ghostly planes of the netherworld... 

LANGUAGES of DUATHA

Characters may begin with one common language, and additional languages equal to their Intelligence modifier. Characters may also learn languages from their Class, Race, or Background.

Most languages can be treated as 'language families'. A speaker of one language may sometimes be able to communicate with speakers of other languages in other scenarios where the dialects have similar roots (though not without some risk of misunderstanding). 

Likewise, speakers of common languages may find that regional variants can often have their own particular idioms and idiosyncrasies that can be occasionally confounding. 

Human Languages:

BRIN

KAELISH

IMPERIAL

YMIRI

KOSHKA

TALUMAR

HUANZU
SANKARI

STREET' CANT

Duathan

Lundish

Athari

Non-Human Languages:

ELVISH

FAERIE COMMON

CHTHONIC

    Dwarvish

    Jotun

DRUIDIC

DRACONIC

CHAOS SPEECH

CELESTIAL  /  ABYSSAL

(*Note that some languages do not conform to D&D convention) 

GNOMES

( a k a   T i n k e r s ,   N o c k e r s ,   K a b o u t e r s... )

Among the Fading Folk, Gnomes are a minor race with a long but modest history. They are thought to be born of the primordial Earth like their cousins the Dwarves, but are more-strongly influenced by the wild energies of the Fae Realm. They are affiliated with the Seelie Court, but remain largely distant from its affairs, preferring grounded, ascetic lives of devotional labour, rather than a whimsical existence on the fringes of the Veil between worlds.

BUGBEARS

(  a k a   B o g i e   B e a r s ,   G o b l i n   B e a r s  )

Origins

---

Bugbears were among the many supernatural Faerie beasts created to serve the Unseelie Court in the age of the Goblin Kings. Charged with guarding the borders of Unseelie domains, these monsters are most at home in the deep woods under cover of night. Serving as sentries and trackers, they combine the fearsome natural traits of normal bears with dark Fae glamour and a malicious cunning.

The VAARA

t h e   N i g h t f o l k  

Tales of vampires have echoed through human history. Sometimes they are depicted as evil spirits who seduce mortal victims. Other times, they are savage predatory monsters that stalk the night, and must be hunted down and destroyed. 

The creatures now generally referred to as 'vampires' originated long before humans. In ancient times, they were called Alukah, and they shared the world with other Elder Races like the Elves and the Duathan. They had their own civilization and ruled large areas of Helicos through the late Mythic Age, shortly before the Advent of Man.

WIGHTS

Most of what you know about Wights has been relayed to you by the outcast Guig (the Black Skull of the Leonera). Plying him with gold and strong wine has made him forthcoming about his folk, though he remains evasive (or simply ignorant) on some details. Whether anything he says can be trusted is another question entirely...

HOBBITS

 
( aka  H a l f l i n g s,  P u t t e r s )

ORIGINS

---

Hobbits (sometimes called Halflings) are a diminutive race typically found in small communities throughout Duatha, although it is believed that they first originated in Clarion region. Some say that the Halflings have Faerie blood in their veins, and that the word “Hobbish" derives from old terms used to describe  Fae. However, Hobbits themselves are usually quick to dismiss such ideas, for they are a humble folk, and want nothing to do with such strangeness.

Of all the races of Others, Hobbits seem to be the most akin to men, and are not treated as being particularly exotic in human lands. Although they may appear sometimes in the histories of other Fading Folk like the Elves or the Dwarves, Hobbits had no empires, ancient cities, or grand founding myths. On the contrary, their history mostly follows alongside the progress of humanity - just smaller and quieter.

WEREBATS

( a k a   C h i r o p t e r a n s )

ORIGINS

---

The obscure race of shapeshifters sometimes called 'werebats' refer to themselves as the people of the winged hand. The origin of the race likely goes back to early human tribes who formed pacts with totemic spirits in order to gain new powers or become better hunters. 

They live mostly in remote, primitive colonies, often in vast caverns. Despite their large numbers and capacity for social organization, they have a modest history; they have built no empires and made no conquests. They are hunters and foragers, and produce little in the way of crafts and culture. 

SPRIGGANS

Spriggans are a type of Faerie distantly related to Dwarvenkind, but infused with a volatile vein of wild magic that allows them to change their shape and size by invoking the ghost of their Giant ancestors.

Selfish, bad-tempered, and cruel, Spriggans are more dangerous than their stature and coarse manners would suggest...