HUMANS - The Erenlanders

[The Hive Mind]

For more than 2,000 years, the Northman descendants of the Dorns and the colonial Sarcosans have lived together as two cultures unified by military, commercial, and royal alliance under the single banner of the nation of Erenland. In that time, they have also become kin through friendship and family. From the southern coast of the Pelluria to the shores of the Ardune, the peoples of both races have interbred and intermarried for so long that a new race of true Erenlanders has been born.

These people are a handsome mix of their forebears. Not as large or pale skinned as their Dorn parents nor as slight or dark as their Sarcosan ancestors, their colorations and builds vary widely. They are a transitional people between both Erenland’s northern and southern regions as well as its past and future. Erenlanders are the true children of their kingdom, a people born of two ancient traditions but owing loyalty instead to one young nation. Though different settlements, and even different families, hold more strongly to some Sarcosan or Dornish traditions, most Erenlanders sense they are truly a unique people, something other than simply the combination of their ancestries.

Erenlanders have long been left to their own wit and strength in settling the central plains, and as a result are a crafty and inventive people with independent and pragmatic natures. Though the often proud behavior of their pureblooded Dorn and Sarcosan countrymen may make the Erenlanders seem disloyal or uninspired by comparison, this is not the case. Erenlanders simply do not feel bound to their ancestors’traditions and so are not limited by Dornish or Sarcosan social mores, expectations, or taboos. This has served them well under the Shadow; because they are not paralyzed by the loss of a long ancestral heritage, they have been better able than the other human cultures to simply adapt and carry on.

Though the lack of cultural restriction means Erenlanders have greater social freedom, that freedom is not without greater social cost. Whereas respect for the past and hatred of the Shadow bind the Dornish houses and Sarcosan liegemen to their people, the Erenlanders have no such guiding lights or sense of unity. Indeed, it may have been their diluted loyalties that made many Erenlander communities fertile soil for Izrador’s dark seeds in the Second and Third Ages. It is yet to be seen whether the Erenlanders of the Last Age will devolve into a directionless, broken people, or will rise above the suspicions and betrayal of their time and unite the two bloodlines, north and south, Dorn and Sarcosan, that created them.

+2 bonus on one ability score of the player's choice, -2 penalty on one other ability of the player's choice.
Medium-size
Base land speed 30 feet.
2 extra feats at 1st level.
8 extra skill points at 1st level and 2 extra skill points at each additional level.
Weapon Familiarity: An Erenlander may choose a single exotic weapon associated with either Dorns or Sarcosans. He may treat that weapon as a martial weapon, rather than an exotic weapon.
Favored Region: Northern Erenland, Central Erenland, or Southern Erenland.
Erenlanders begin with 4 bonus ranks in one Craft or Profession skill of the player's choice.
Automatic Language: Erenlander. Bonus Languages: Any.
Favored Class: Any

[The Hive Mind]

Below is a list of base Erenlander traits and the drawbacks to those traits that a player may take at character creation. For each drawback a player applies to his Erenlander character, he may select one variant trait from the table below. Each variant trait may only be selected once.

1) - Erenlanders normally gain a +2 bonus on one ability score of the player's choice and suffer a -2 penalty on one other ability score of the player's choice. As a drawback, the player may choose to forego the +2 bonus to an ability score.
2) - Erenlanders normally gain two extra feats at 1st level. As a drawback, the player may choose to forego one or both feats. Each feat he does not take counts as one drawback.
3) - Erenlanders normally gain 8 extra skill points at 1st level and 2 extra skill points at each additional level. As a drawback, the player may choose to receive only 4 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point at each additional level. This drawback may only be chosen once; the Erenlanders diverse skills and talents are an ingrained part of their heritage, and cannot be completely foregone.

Variant Erenlander Traits

Trait / -------------------Description
Animal Whisperer -----------Animals tend to trust you.
Beast Slayer ---------------A lifetime of fighting creatures gives you a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses.
Burly ----------------------You're bigger than the average Erenlander.
Charm Crafter -------------In the long hours of the dark of winter, you've perfected the art of charm crafting.
Dorn Heritage -------------Though you're an Erenlander, your bloodline and family have strong Dorn traits.
Flexible Craftsman ---------Making do is what you do best.
Intuitive ------------------It doesn't take much for you to apply skill at one task to skill at another task.
Listener to the Land -------You know your home territory as well as any elf knows his forest.
Natural Talent -------------You might not be very intelligent, but you have a knack for certain activities.
Paranoid ------------------It's not survival of the fittest; it's survival of the most skittish.
Rugged -------------------Life on the open plains has toughened you to natural hardships.
Sarcosan Heritage --------Though you're an Erenlander, your bloodline and family have strong Sarcosan traits.
Secretive -----------------You've learned to hold your cards close to your chest.
Spirit Speaker -------------You have a talent for magic akin to that of some fey.
Squalor Dweller -----------Rubbish is your home, your meal, and your protection, so what's a little disease?
Sturdy -------------------You're hard to distract or to keep down.
Survivor -----------------You're skilled at avoiding mundane dangers.
Weaponry Improvisation --You can handle strange weapons better than most.

Animal Whisperer: You have had to depend on animals, both domestic and wild, for survival. As such, you have developed a knack with them; they trust you. Typical domestic animals have starting attitudes of friendly toward you, wild animals have starting attitudes of indifferent, and even animals trained to attack strangers or guard an area have starting attitudes of merely unfriendly, rather than hostile. These starting attitudes assume that the character is not, for instance, waving a weapon at the animal, invading its lair, or attacking its young.

Beast Slayer: You have grown up defending your community against all manner of beasts, both natural and unnatural. You've picked up basic knowledge along the way regarding their habits, preferred prey, and weaknesses. You may make Knowledge checks to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities withough having any ranks in the requisite Knowledge skill. Additionally, regardless of the creature's HD, a natural 20 on this roll always results in correct identification of the creature and some useful information about it. This ability may only be used when identifying animals, magical beasts, monstrous humanoids, humanoids, and undead; other creature types are too exotic and otherworldly for you to have any experience with.

Burly: They grow them big out there on the open plains. You are larger than the average Erenlander, and thanks to a life of hard work, you have a strong back and are adept at using leverage and sheer strength to get the upper hand. You gain a +2 size bonus on all Strength checks, including bull rush, overrun, and trip attempts. This bonus does not stack with that gained from the Giantblooded heroic path.

Charm Crafter: Charms are very useful items to Erenlanders, whether for their own use or to trade to others. Erenlanders have so few resources with which to craft mundane items that being able to create something "from nothing" is seen as a blessing from the world spirit. Your teacher taught you all the tricks, and during those long winters or while hiding from the tithe-takers, you perfected your craft. You may create charms using half the time and resources normally required; alternatively, you may spend half again as much time when creating a charm, which raises the difficulty to identify it to DC 25 rather than DC 15.

Dorn Heritage: Your northern bloodline is purer than most, and your parents taught you to respect your heritage. You gain a +1 racial bonus to attack rolls when fighting with a group of five or more Dorns, and count as a Dorn for that purpose. Additionally, you begin play with Norther as a bonus language and, if need be, can pass as a full-blooded Dorn rather than an Erenlander.

Flexible Craftsman: Making do with little is the Erenlander way of life. When you craft mundane items, you may either take half the normal time to do so or use up only 50% of the normal materials (your choice for each project). Additionally, you suffer no penalty when crafting an item using improvised tools.

Intuitive: It doesn't take much training for you to get the hang of something, and you rapidly learn to apply skill in one area to activities in another. You gain synergy bonuses when you have 4 ranks in the prerequisite skill, rather than 5.

Listener to the Land: Whether the spirits of the land actually speak to you or not is up for debate. The fact is, you seem to know the lay of the land, the ways of the plants and animals, and the events of the past without having to be told about them. You may make untrained Knowledge checks (including geography, history, local, or nature) relating to any subject having to do with central Erenland, even if you do not have ranks in that Knowledge skill.

Natural Talent: Book-learning does little good among a people who are punished for literacy. Instead, the Erenlanders focus on their natural aptitudes. Choose one ability score. Whenever determining bonus skill point at each level after 1st, you use that ability score instead of Intelligence to determine your character's number of bonus skill points. However, those bonus skill points may only be used on skills that have that ability as a key ability score. For instance, an Erenlander fighter with an 8 Intelligence and a 16 Strength might choose Strength. At 2nd level and each level thereafter, rather than suffering a -1 to his total number of skill points gained that level, he gains an additional 3 skill points. He could only spend those skill points, however, on Climb, Jump, or Swim.

Paranoid: It can be unwise to trust your neighbors, much less outsiders. A life of avoiding overseers' attention and predicting their moods has given you a useful, if skittish, awareness of your surroundings. Once per social encounter, you may re-roll a Sense Motive check. Additionally, any time you make a reactive Spot or Listen check to avoid being surprised, you may re-roll one of those checks. In both cases, you must choose to re-roll after rolling but before learning the results of the check, and you must accept the results of the second roll,even if it is lower than the first.

Rugged: Those who fall under the lashmaster's whip often aren't allowed to rise again, and enduring the elements on the open plains is part and parcel of survival in Erenland. You receive a +4 racial bonus on all Fortitude checks made to resist natural heat, natural cold, or exposure. You also receive a +2 racial bonus on Constitution checks made to resist taking nonlethal damage from forced marches and similar continuing efforts.

Sarcosan Heritage: Your family's Sarcosan bloodline is strong, and your isolated homestead has allowed them some freedom to keep horses. You begin play with a Sarcosan riding horse for free. Additionally, you begin play with Colonial as a bonus language and, if need be, can pass as a full-blooded Sarcosan rather than an Erenlander.

Secretive: When the tithe-takers come, time is of the essence. Whether hiding friends for an ambush or concealing goods from others' eyes, you may always take 10, even when circumstances would normally prevent you from doing so. Additonally, you may hide friends or equipment in half the normal time.

Spirit Speaker: Erenlanders have never been very spiritual, focusing instead on the pragmatic aspects of survival. In this dark age, however, spirituality has become pragmatic; without help from the land around you, your people probably couldn't survive. You gain 1 bonus spell energy point and know one additional 1st-level spell, but channeler (spiritual) becomes your favored class. The bonus 1st-level spell must be a divination or conjuration spell. Only characters that begin with the Magecraft feat may select this variant trait.

Squalor Dweller: Erenlanders are sometimes forced to live in disgusting environments. They can either succumb to the filth and disease therein, or can develop a hardiness and natural immunity to such threats. You're one of the lucky ones. Any time you must make a saving throw against a disease, whether natural or supernatural in origin, you roll two dice and take the higher of the two rolls.

Sturdy: Erenlanders must learn to keep working, even when they hear the screams of their peers behind them or they feel the lash of the overseer's whip. You gain 1 bonus hit point at 1st level, and you receive a +2 racial bonus to Concentration checks.

Survivor: Erenlanders may not be as quick as their Sarcosan forebears or as resilient as their Dornish ancestors, but they learn to keep their heads down in the face of mundane difficulties. You receive a +2 racial bonus on all saving throws made against extraordinary attacks and abilities. This bonus does not apply to saving throws made to resist spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities.

Weaponry Improvisation: Many Erenlander communities are isolated enough that they keep caches of scrounged weaponry around to fight off wild beasts and Fell. When you use a weapon with which you are not proficient, you suffer only half the normal penalty.