Category: Bandearg

Vuzodep

The Vuzodept are desert-roaming persons whose origins begin in a kingdom called Vuzode. The kingdom was believed to be inhabited by monstrous beings. Little is known about Vuzode except that they waged endless war on the kingdom of Luft, and eventually a group of Vuzodept joined the people of Luft to end the war.

Vuzodept do not resemble the monstrous beings cited in ancient texts, however; instead, they look like bandeargen with darker and rougher skin, likely due to their time spent in deserts. Often, Vuzodep children have similar hair coloring to the bandeargen, as well. This suggests that Vuzodept may be a long lost tribe of bandeargen who chose to live nomadically in the deserts. Alternatively, they could be reject bandearg children, or it could simply be common for them to interbreed with bandeargen. The latter seems unlikely, since few Vuzodept have been found in bandearg settlements.

Little is known of Vuzodep culture except for their presumed nomadic nature, as they are rarely seen outside of deserts and markets. Their settlements or even houses have not been found, but occasional campsites are stumbled upon. Some traveling Vuzodept have mentioned being a “third sibling” as if it bore cultural significance, but refused to elaborate. These persons were noted to have significant magical abilities, suggesting that families with more children tend to have greater magical abilities. This is merely a hypothesis based on scarce information.

Heikei Mushrooms

Image by Andreas from Pixabay

These mushrooms are known as Heikei mushrooms, and are found in the Pevyse forest. This forest seems to grow all plants to enormous sizes, with the great trees of the Pevyse settlement being the most well-known. These mushrooms are of similar stature, and grown in a unique formation, one atop the other. Gnomes of the Heikei forest live in these great formations, using them as homes in a manner similar to elves and Pevyse bandearg. Some hollow out the mushrooms while others use them as a tentlike shelter, building small huts beneath their caps. The mushrooms require thicker walls, thus providing smaller homes than an elven-built tree home made from a similar-sized tree.

Musings on the Pevyse People

The Pevyse people are secretive and dangerous, making it difficult to learn much about their culture. We have determined that they are capable hunters, as all bandeargen are, and that they hunt with the traditional knife and stealthy maneuvers. Their prey rarely survives.

There are predators that can scare off a bandearg, but the Pevysi bandeargen are far smarter than average. They can disappear in a heartbeat, and will not be fooled by simple tricks such as imitating dangerous animals. If they are tricked in such a manner, they will organize a coordinated hunting party, and the trickster best not wait around until they return.

They seem to have some way of traveling through treetops that allows them to move faster and with more stealth than a typical, dexterous bandearg hunter. Perhaps a series of platforms? Though even a Pevyse bandearg is likely not smart enough to create such a delicate construction…

Image by Leonhard Niederwimmer from Pixabay

Demontimes

Colorful and ornate masks are worn during the celebration of Demontimes in which people build floats to celebrate the defeat of a demonic lord, Finuput. There are always two floats; one for Finuput and his allies and one for those who opposed him. Every participant wears a homemade mask to hide their identity, and they throw necklaces from the floats to the crowds as they parade through town.

The most generous float wins, and at some point each of the major figures (Sheldon Glass, Kelly Horse, The Mystery, Harold, and Finuput) throw a special necklace down. Whoever catches it becomes that figure the next year. Finuput is the only named figure on his float while all the other figures are on the other float. Each float has masked soldiers to assist them.

Photo by hitesh choudhary from Pexels

Darnell Asylum

https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-3-tier-drawer-1660924/

The Darnell Asylum has a dark history. When humans first began to interbreed with elves, they were unaccustomed to magical abilities that the half-elf and three quarters elf children sometimes had. They locked them in this asylum to control them. The asylum was overrun by magic spiders from the elven forests, and the elf hybrid children fled into the forest. To this day, the webs in the asylum are too thick to break, and feral elf-hybrids are found roaming the woods, though most of their human blood has been diluted by bandearg or elven blood. (Click here to learn more about bandeargen)

Bandearg

pink troll

Side Note: Bandearg is believed to be the word for “pink” in an ancient Eurthan language, suggesting that humans may have given the race the name they use today.

Passionate Culture

Bandeargen, also known as pink trolls due to their unique hair color, live in camps in the wilderness and occasionally at human settlements. Their culture revolves around fighting. Disputes are settled in hand-to-hand combat in which the winner is chosen by popular opinion. For this reason, Strength can often be used in place of Charisma when interacting with a bandearg. If a chief is killed in such combat, their opponent becomes chief. Otherwise, the title descends to their favorite son or male relative upon their death.

Hunters and Gatherers

Bandeargen have strong gender roles in which men hunt and fight while women gather food and care for children. That said, bandeargen truly care more about fighting ability than gender.

Polygamy and Marriage

Male bandeargen sometimes have multiple spouses. It is possible for a female bandeargen to have multiple husbands, though it is rare. A bandearg with more than one spouse must be exceptional in combat, or one spouse might choose to leave them. Divorce is as simple as one spouse saying that they are no longer married. Most adult bandeargen are married, as they see marriage as a symbol of status. It is uncommon to have three spouses, though a few powerful adventurers and chiefs have done so.

pink troll fire

Pink Trolls and Outsiders

Bandeargen have light–to-bronze skin and pink hair. However, some have blue and white streaks, and occasionally hair that is white or some combination of the three colors. These colors often appear in creatures of other races with bandearg ancestry. Bandeargen have married individuals of many races due to fascination with their coloring, and despite their stockiness and exceptionally course features.

Bandeargen look upon others as inferior, but do not feel any hostility towards them. There have even been a few rare instances of people from other races winning positions as chief of bandearg camps due to their one-to-one combat prowess.

Dwarves

Bandearg look on dwarves as competition, as they are the only race bandearg consider comparable in physical strength, durability, and sturdiness. While dwarves live in bare and mountainous regions and bandeargen live on forested hills and mountainsides, they have a well-developed distaste for the more civilized group. Strangely enough, this dislike does not seem to extend to elves.

Dragons and Dragonborn

Bandeargen admire draconic creatures for their immense strength and power, regardless of alignment. They have strong affinity for dragons, and are often found amongst dragonkeepers.

Monstorians

Those few bandeargen who have met Monstorians fear them. Their physical power and powerful magic can make Monstorians frightening enemies. In some cases, fear can become hate.

Bandearg Names

Male names typically include 2-5 consonants separated by “ee” sounds, or in very rare instances “aa” or other doubled vowels. Female names begin with the vowel set and have 1-4 consonants. Parents typically use letters from their own names to name their children, and female children typically have the same letters as their fathers, but in reverse order, using anywhere from one to four of the letters in her father’s name and ending with either one of two vowels. For example, Weeteexeelee might have two daughters named Eleexeete and Eelee. Last names are not typical, at least among bandeargen living in camps.

Bandearg Traits (contains modified OGL content)

As a bandearg, you have the following natural and learned traits.

Ability Score Increase Your Strength increases by 1 and your Constitution increases by 2.

Age Bandeargen live very short but active lives, reaching maturity at age 5 and rarely living past 80 years old. They age approximately 3x as fast as humans until they reach adulthood at age 5.

Alignment Bandeargen are almost exclusively lawful, not due to natural tendencies but due to necessity. Bandeargen with chaotic nature either leave home or die. Lawful evil bandeargen are the most common, followed by lawful neutral. Lawful good bandeargen are rarely successful, but sometimes join human societies and are comfortable there.

Size Male bandeargen are short and stocky, approximately 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall. The women tend to be quite a bit taller than men, closer to 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 feet tall. Your size is medium.

Speed Your base walking speed is 30 feet

Darkvision Bandeargen are natural predators, stalking prey through the trees at night. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Hardskull Bandeargen are known for the thickness of their skulls, granting them greater resistance to damage. Your armor class increases by 1.

Tree Sneak You can move from tree to tree using your climbing speed or half your normal speed, if you do not have one. This can be done for any length of time, and you can use stealth at a normal pace if at least 20 feet high in a tree.

Survival You have proficiency in the Survival and Stealth skills.

Languages You speak, read, and write Bandearg, the language of bandeargen. This language is simple and focused on practical discussion. As a result, bandeargen who are more intellectual often invent their own words or use a combination of Ferellan and Bandearg. This had led to different dialects of Bandearg in various human settlements with high bandearg populations.