Chapter One: The Lands of Aeliode time of year when other cultures typically begin to harvest their crops is known, and market days in fomoire villages are determined by the return of their raiding vessels Arts Fomoire art is virtually nonexistent What art exists is typically taken from the people a fomoire clan has recently pillaged There is a moderately strong oral storytelling tradition that passes tales of glory and bravery down through the generations, but such tales are more base entertainment and few fomoire put much work into crafting these tales Some painting can be found in a fomoire village if one looks hard enough These paintings are monochromatic, uninspired, simple forms left upon rocks, boulders, or cave walls Typically a painting lasts no more than a season or two before they are washed away by the elements History According to Ostmen sagas, Fomoire are kith and kin to dwarves Before the humans or the elves came to inhabit the land known as Tir Ydrial, many dwarven settlements could be found across the land Most of these dwarves began to feel their work in the region was done and traveled north past great mountains and icy tundra Many dwarves stayed however and began to celebrate their accomplishments Their revels are said to have become more crazed as the god Balar began to awaken Balar’s presence set fire to these ancient dwarves’ blood-transforming and molding them anew until, one sunrise, no more dwarves remained and only fomoire stood upon the land The fomoire continued their bloody revels hunting and killing animals and beasts from the spirit world No force stopped them until a new type of being found its way to the fertile plains and vast forests of the fomoire These newcomers, who called themselves Sidhe, claimed the land for themselves calling it Tir Ydrail Battle raged between the fomoire and the sidhe for thousands of years The constant war killed many and forever changed the face of the fomoire homeland, but they were beginning to win as Sidhe numbers dwindled Then came the day when all the sidhe vanished from the land Had the fomoire bloodlust not been so great it might have been their victory However the fomoire, lost in their need for battle, turned upon themselves And with this shift in the ancient war, Balar grew weary, and soon fell to sleep once more Without their god and their enemy, the fomoire were lost They took to the seas in search of their one time kin the dwarves As blood calls to blood, they found them building a new land up from the northern waters and it is upon these islands that the fomoire have since lived Additional Class Details Barbarian: Barbarians from the Ostmen Islands are an elite fighting force that has earned the respect of most Ostmen Those who choose the path of the barbarian class engage in rituals that include the use of hallucinogenics in order to take the power of various beasts within them They believe that these animals inhabit their bodies when they fight A barbarian will typically wear the fur of the beast they wish to draw in Barbarians believe that they are a type of lycanthrope and that their rage occurs when they have transformed Most who have fought against an Ostmen barbarian tend to agree The Others While the previous cultures cover the major players in this region of the world, they not represent all those who can be found there Wars, natural disasters, and the intervention of gods have seen the rise and fall of dozens if not hundreds of nations and cultures Below is a small sampling of a few of the other cultures and races that either wander the ever winding roads or have tucked themselves away in a remote landscape of Aeliode Half Orc Muscles move under the mottled grey skin like an avalanche slamming down the side of a mountain The cold eyes contain the countenance of a beast that has driven hundreds before them in dread And the roar… The roar of the half orc contains the fury of the bitter north wind and it will echo in your ears far after one loses the strength to hold their shield aloft It is said that orcs and half orcs are the anger of the mountain for the pillaging of its precious ores, that the half orc has been thrown upon the plains to gather up the mountain’s lost horde The mountain must be very angry indeed Physiology Half orcs are massive Males average between ft to ft in in height, with females averaging an inch taller that the males Their skin is thick and grey or putty green with darker mottled patches covering portions of their body A heavy brow, rounded face, and slight tusks protruding from their lower jaw gives the orc an animalistic appearance that is further accentuated by their gravelly voices and intermittent grunts and growls Society Half orc society is harsh and unrelenting Living in the cold and barren landscape of the Stadji Mountains offer few 23