Races of Aduria

[Green Knight]

Hi,

What non-human races would be suitable for placement in Aduria?

Personally I have the gnolls (beastmen) as a quite profilic race. In addition I have found room for centaurs, wemics, and lizardfolk.

Anyone have any ideas related to this matter?

B

[graham anderson]

I would say anyhting that can be found in cerilia more or less.

Dragons, giants (maybe add fire giants and other types), elves , dwarves (maybe wern't forced back into the mountains by the elves), gnolls, goblins, kobolds, orog's(perhaps not forced underground), ogre , troll, sahuagin, centaur.

Beastmen different from gnolls more corupted humans. Lizardfolk maybe.

[Osprey]

I have Adurian beastmen being a race engineered by Azrai or one of his chief minions (a sorcerer or priest). Humans and orogs were cross-bred to create a race of strong, reliable warrior-slaves who were elite shock troops for the Adurian armies up to the time of Deismaar. After the cataclysm and the collapse of imperial order, some of the surviving beastmen managed to escape their bondage and win freedom (when the priestly magic disappears, the rule of sword and strength begins). Others remained in bondage under emerging human and orog warlords. Today there is at least one beastman realm (Korgathnar) in eastern Aduria, and scattered bands/clans/tribes elsewhere.

The biggest advantage of beastmen over orogs is they are less hampered by daylight [-1 to checks, while orogs IMC are either sickened (successful Fort save)or nauseated (failed Fort save) in daylight] while still retaining some darkvision (60'). They also tend to be less fractious than some orog tribes, more readily accepting a strong leader and their own place within a hierarchy. Of course, they aren't quite so monstrously strong as orogs, nor do they retain the intuitive underground senses and lore of the orogs.

I had sketched out a jungle realm far to the south inhabited by dragon-worshipping yuan-ti, who plot to invade and enslave the human realms on their northern borders. The purebred elite are blooded, and most often sorcerers (the favored class of the yuan-ti nobility). IMC dragons are blooded because they are inherently divine creatures with their own (Draconic) derivation. Mortal creatures with draconic bloodlines might have been spawned by polymorphed dragons. A race like the yuan-ti might represent the blending of Azrai's line with a draconic one, spawning all sorts of abominations thanks to some ancient awnshegh and dragon progenitors. Scary.

Osprey

[ConjurerDragon]

Green Knight schrieb:



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> Green Knight wrote:

> Hi,

>What non-human races would be suitable for placement in Aduria?

>Personally I have the gnolls (beastmen) as a quite profilic race. In addition I have found room for centaurs, wemics, and lizardfolk.

>Anyone have any ideas related to this matter?

>

As Azrai used a gnoll-like creature in the appendix to "Greatheart" as

his champion I also find a few gnoll realms across Aduria approbiate,

not just one like that in northeast Brechtür.



One Dragon article had the Yak-Men who use realmspells to steal the

bloodline of their enemies placed in Aduria...

bye

Michael

[geeman]

At 06:14 PM 1/17/2005 +0100, Green Knight wrote:



>What non-human races would be suitable for placement in Aduria?

>

>Personally I have the gnolls (beastmen) as a quite profilic race. In

>addition I have found room for centaurs, wemics, and lizardfolk.

>

>Anyone have any ideas related to this matter?



I think the lizardfolk idea is a good one, though a version of them that is

less oriented towards swamps would need to be described. Since Aduria

represents a southern continental progression, I think we should start

heading toward populations that are more oriented towards that kind of

climate. Reptilian race (like lizardfolk or yuan-ti but with a BR flair)

should probably be included.



Less obvious might be races of intelligent simians or avians--if depicted

existing pretty far afield from Cerilia in particular environments so as to

justify their lack of migration to that continent. IIRC, the idea of a

leonine race was used pretty extensively in Ian Hoskin`s Aduria

expansion. I think that`s a pretty sensible race to exist, though I don`t

think there should be many of them since... well, to get a little technical

here it makes less sense to have very prolific intelligent races based on

what are mostly carnivorous species since that population by definition can

exist in numbers that relate to the ability of the race to feed on

herbivores (or, at least, less carnivorous) species. If one is going to

premise vast herds of creatures like American bison upon which such a

population can develop then it starts to make more sense--though it needs

to be noted that such populations rarely develop beyond a stone age level

technology and their populations remain, therefore, relatively sparse. A

race of lion-men is a cool idea... but it starts to strain credibility

fairly quickly IMO.



I`m leery of centaurs and wemics or any "tauric" creatures existing on a

large, domain level scale controlling their own realms per se rather than

existing as populations within other civilizations, though that idea seems

popular with lots of folks. Those races just seem a bit too powerful in

regular D&D terms for inclusion in a continental expansion, so unless they

are going to be totally redefined as different from the versions we have in

3e/3.5 I would keep them out. (It wouldn`t be that difficult to redefine

them, but people seem loathe to do that for some reason, so if the option

is a version that is close to the D&D write up or not including them at all

the latter choice seems more prudent.)



As for "standard" races, I think goblins are quite prolific. We know very

little about goblin origins in BR, but they seem fairly ubiquitous and

their breeding cycle would seem to indicate they could exist in large

numbers. In BR goblins are depicted in a more "civilized" light than in

most other settings, so it`s not hard to see them as populating much of the

globe. In a like manner, orogs should probably exist in similar numbers as

they do in Cerilia. To be honest, these races should probably be more

prevalent than new and more "original" ones. The trick isn`t so much to

come up with new races IMO as it is to redefine them culturally for their

particular regions.



The big picture to me, however, is how extensive these kinds of races will

be. In general, I don`t think they should appear more frequently than

non-human races do in Cerilia, and less would probably make better

sense. In some cases the races might have single, unique realms. Though

I`d be concerned with an overuse of centaurs or wemics, as I mentioned, a

realm with up to three provinces (say, the size of Spiderfell, for example)

would be completely sensible IMO. I`d just be concerned with such races

getting overused in a way that had them doing something like effectively

replacing Cerilian elves.



Gary

[Green Knight]

Originally posted by geeman@Jan 17 2005, 08:00 PM
I`m leery of centaurs and wemics or any "tauric" creatures existing on a large, domain level scale controlling their own realms per se rather than existing as populations within other civilizations, though that idea seems popular with lots of folks. Those races just seem a bit too powerful in regular D&D terms for inclusion in a continental expansion, so unless they are going to be totally redefined as different from the versions we have in 3e/3.5 I would keep them out. (It wouldn`t be that difficult to redefine them, but people seem loathe to do that for some reason, so if the option is a version that is close to the D&D write up or not including them at all
the latter choice seems more prudent.)
I think I'll try my hand at some down-powered versions of tauric creatures. I like both the cantaur and the wemic, but as you say thay are massively powerful and that would make little sense if they were to rule domains.

B

[irdeggman]

You know mongrelmen would seem to fit the theme. Especially as portrayed in 2nd ed. There mostly the result of experiments and no two were alike. The 3.5 version radically changed them and I'm not certain I like it, but mechanically it is easier to handle.

They could represent Azrais ever changing aspect and the fact that he didn't like to leave things alone.

[Raesene Andu]

I considered Mongrelmen when I was decided what stats to use in my Adurian campaign, but rejected them in favour of a race based off the half-ogre from Races of Destiny. Mongrelfolk are in that book as well if you are interested, but I don't recomend you buy it, especially as it spend 30 pages telling you how to play a human character...

The original ideas for the new Aduria races from TSR were Wermics, Beastmen, Yuan-Ti, and Genies. Rich Baker's info he wrote up for Dragon (most of which was never published) also mentioned Gnolls in northern Aduria.

In my version of Aduria I left the Wermics as a NPC race and made Beast-men, gnolls, djinn and two reptillian races (one serpent-like) as the new PC races. I also included a variant of the halflings (Desert Halflings using Unearthed Arcana variant).

Personally, I wouldn't like to see Goblins, Orogs, Elves or Dwarves in Aduria, although dwarves would be acceptable I guess if they didn't show up much.

[irdeggman]

Mongrelfolk are also in Races of Destiny which is what I primary basing my opinion on (3.5 wise that is).

[Raesene Andu]

As I said I did consider Mongrelfolk first off, but when I considered why Azrai would want to create a race of beastmen to start with, I settled on a variant of the half-orge, primarily because in my version of Aduria the beastmen were the core of Azrai's armies, therefore they needed to be a combat oriented race.

[Osprey]

But how, oh how, do a human and ogre mate? Anyone? Especially if it's a human mother? She'd never carry such a thing to term and deliver it successfully, I'm fairly certain.

Also, half-ogre as "base" shock troop race is awfully strong compared to a 1st or 2nd level human warrior. Ouch.

I made Beastmen half-orogs in my version of Aduria. Unlike you, Raesene, orogs were one race I decided would be very cool as a native race of Aduria, and one that Azrai made extensive use of during his imperial heyday. And part of this was an extensive breeding program where orogs and humans mated. The human aspect offset the orogs' extreme sensitivity to light, toned down their aggression just a bit (to make them more managable in combined operations with human forces), and made them more tractable as trainable, obedient slave-soldiers. The beastman babies were born and raised as slave-soldiers, taught that they had only one function in life: to be perfect soldiers (obedient, unflinching, merciless). Units train together from infancy, so all slave-soldiers within a unit would be raised and trained together for a good 12-15 years (physical maturity, assuming all soldiers were born within a year or so of one another), at which point they became a very, very nasty elite assault unit.

Osprey

[irdeggman]

In 2nd ed there was actually a monster called beastmen IIRC. I know they carried over from the Mystara setting.

Oh by the way I'm not disagreeing with your concept of beastmen Ian, the logic makes perfect sense to me. I was only talking about introducing mongrelfolk as another of Azrai's experiments, most likely before he "perfected" the beastmen.

[Raesene Andu]

Originally posted by Osprey@Feb 9 2005, 02:27 AM
But how, oh how, do a human and ogre mate? Anyone? Especially if it's a human mother? She'd never carry such a thing to term and deliver it successfully, I'm fairly certain.
My beastmen aren't actually half-orges, they just have similar abilities. I made them transformed humans, loyal subjects of Azrai who were transformed by a ritual to become powerful warriors, the core of Azrai's legions. Over time Azrai's priests created enough of them for them to become a race in their own right and following the defeat of Azrai at Deismaar they settled in a mountainous region south-west of Mieres (former Vos lands) and remain there today as tribes of raiders who threaten the various empires around them.

I tried to make a real move away from the standard races with Aduria. So I didn't have any half-elves, elves, dwarves, goblins, or orogs. For various reason I considered them to all be Cerilian races.

Humans are obviously there because they came from Aduria to start with. Halfling I assumed would have turned up all over Aebrynis after they fled the Shadow World, so I put a variant of them in Aduria, although they have no actual lands to call their own.

Gnolls I made similar to goblins in Cerilia in that they are a basically trible race that is found across the continent, except in the far south and some of the more civilised lands. Any of the deserts or badlands were almost certain to have tribes of gnoll scavengers living in them though.

Wermics I placed as a tribal race found in the grasslands of Aduria, specifically the inland grasslands of the east coast directly south of Mieres where they a losely aligned empire of tribes that had an uneasy peace with the human cities of the east coast.

I also placed a new race of cat-humanoid hunters in jungles of southern Aduria and then gave them a history where they once controlled a vast empire, but it has since decayed, their secrets have been lost and they have slipped back into barbarism. Since they lived in the jungles I made them a fallen Mayan-type culture, complete with overgrown stone cities deep in the jungle.

I didn't include a Yuan-Ti empire, but instead made a new race who are effectivly scaled down Yuan-Ti abominations (snake bodies and heads, human-like torso and arms). They are sorcerer/priests who believe that they are the chosen servants of a dragon god who created them thousands of years ago. They rule the great desert from a fortress carved into an extinct volcano and fill the roll of the primary bad guys of the region.

Then I included a race of reptillian gypsies who wander the wastelands, grasslands, and deserts of central Aduria. They are another fallen race, who once controlled a vast peaceful empire that stretched across central Aduria. Their empire was destroyed by Azrai some time before Deismaar and their race thought lost. They reappeared about 500 years after deismaar, riding out of the wilderness with great wagons pulled by huge lizard creatures. Now they act as traders and merchants, who brave the wildland between human cities.

Finally, I added in the Djin, who are similar to the Genasi from the FRCS for the most part.

[irdeggman]

Originally posted by Osprey@Feb 8 2005, 11:57 AM
But how, oh how, do a human and ogre mate? Anyone? Especially if it's a human mother? She'd never carry such a thing to term and deliver it successfully, I'm fairly certain.

Also, half-ogre as "base" shock troop race is awfully strong compared to a 1st or 2nd level human warrior. Ouch.

Half-ogres are a playable race in Races of Destiny. I'd have to check the write up to see how they mate or so.

In Dark Sun they had a race called Muls which were a result of a human and dwarf parents. Most of the time the mother died in child birth and Muls were sterile.

IIRC "Mother" was a half-Ogre in the Spider's Test.

[geeman]

At 12:09 PM 2/8/2005 +0100, Green Knight wrote:



>>I`m leery of centaurs and wemics or any "tauric" creatures existing on a

>>large, domain level scale controlling their own realms per se rather than

>>existing as populations within other civilizations, though that idea

>>seems popular with lots of folks. Those races just seem a bit too

>>powerful in regular D&D terms for inclusion in a continental expansion,

>>so unless they are going to be totally redefined as different from the

>>versions we have in 3e/3.5 I would keep them out. (It wouldn`t be that

>>difficult to redefine them, but people seem loathe to do that for some

>>reason, so if the option is a version that is close to the D&D write up

>>or not including them at all the latter choice seems more prudent.)

>

>I think I`ll try my hand at some down-powered versions of tauric

>creatures. I like both the cantaur and the wemic, but as you say thay are

>massively powerful and that would make little sense if they were to rule

>domains.



I look forward to your interpretations. I`m personally, a big fan of the

racial level stuff I`ve seen before and find such things apt for everything

right up to and including Cerilian humans because... well, they just seem

so darn _playable_. Gotta love that....



Gary

[geeman]

At 05:57 PM 2/8/2005 +0100, Osprey wrote:



> But how, oh how, do a human and ogre mate? Anyone?



Well, first the ogre comes home drunk from work.... (Old joke.)



>Especially if it`s a human mother? She`d never carry such a thing to term

>and deliver it successfully, I`m fairly certain.



I`m pretty ignorant of pre-natal situations, thankfully, but it seems to me

that many mammals are birthed at various stages of development, requiring

differing levels of post-natal care and all that malarky. Who knows how

big ogre infants are? Shaquil O`neal (SP?) is about ogre sized and he came

out of a pretty much normal sized human, didn`t he? (I`m equally ignorant

of glandular sports figures.)



If you`ve played the computer game Arcanum there`s a subplot in which the

gamer discovers a plot involving half-ogres being bred as a servant

race. The process, apparently, killed off a large percentage of the

mothers, but reached a point at which the population was sustainable. If

one is going to premise Azrai`s involvement in the development of a whole

race of half-ogre-like creatures then a program like that might be their

origins. Since Azrai has been gone for 1,500 years there`s room for just

about any later development of the race/culture of such creatures.



Gary

[Artemel]

irdeggman - IIRC "Mother" was a half-Ogre in the Spider's Test.

I think he was half-OROG actually. Almost positive. ~note to self~ must... grab... BR novels. Why oh why are they 60 miles away? :(

[irdeggman]

Originally posted by Artemel@Feb 16 2005, 11:03 AM

irdeggman - IIRC "Mother" was a half-Ogre in the Spider's Test.*

I think he was half-OROG actually. Almost positive. ~note to self~ must... grab... BR novels. Why oh why are they 60 miles away? :(
That was my original thought but some one pointed out to me I was mistaken and he was actually half-ogre. It had to do with when I wrote out a description of a half-orog as a PC race (not for the BRCS) and was basing it on Mother. Actually half-ogre makes a lot more sense considering the area and how mother behaved (he also wasn't afraid of light).

[Raesene Andu]

The novel is quite specific, it doesn't mention orge at all, it definitely says Orog. Pg. 116 if you want to check.