V3: The Outfit (Sheet)

Civilization: The Outfit.
Town: Shylo, a newly built settlement near Chalice Lake, traditional homeland of the Lakelander tribes.
Race: Lakelanders (feral humanoids), Humans (free).
Tech: [Runes/Rune Magic], a coherent symbolic system which can be used to nonverbally transmit ideas across time and space (primitive written language). When imbued with the appropriate energies and direction of will, runes can affect anything upon which they are inscribed, from hardening stone to making a sword feather light; any effect is theoretically possible, but the correct combination of runes in the right order is necessary, and each additional rune magnifies the complexity and volatility of the effect, especially should something go wrong. (i.e. a ‘hot’ rune on the blade of the sword will make it warm to the touch, and adding ‘air’ might make it a flaming weapon, but might also make it explode.) Runes can and commonly are inscribed into living flesh as brands or tattoos, and can radically alter living tissue on a gross scale; that is how Alistair giants get their shape, as well as other, less apparent abilities.
Commodity: Across the plains south of Chalice Lake roam diverse species of enormous quadrupedal animals which Lakelanders tame or hunt according to their temperament. Most common are the <Wardogs> which serve as mounts and companions to Alistair cavalry in place of horses, domesticated in the distant past and actively raised and bred in Lakelander society. Though there is no single preferred breed, common favored traits include intelligence, loyalty, and physical strength. Individual Alistairs will select their own dogs on other considerations, such as obedience, ferocity, or agility. Inherent difficulties in breeding and training Wardogs grants kennelmasters a high place in Lakelander society, as injury and death are every day hazards when dealing with untrained adolescents.

((Later Use: Next come the <Gargants>, omnivorous herd beasts which are as docile as they are massive; best described as a cross between a badger and an ox, they are capable of bearing heavy loads on near-migratory journeys along trade routes, as well as formation-shattering sprints if goaded into combat with the right training.

The Outfit

Race: Lakelanders.

Capital: Shylo. As the first permanent Lakelander settlement, it is a grand experiment with the local tribes ‘reinventing the wheel’ as they go. Should later examples follow the same model, they will typically be centrally focused around a grand hall held by the city’s leader, surrounded by politically or economically powerful clan-homes and longhouses. Another ring of semi-permanent structures to house clanless bachelors and freeriders surrounds these, and after that workshops and crafting centers arise piecemeal. Lakelander settlements are not so much permanent economic or political centers as staging grounds for endeavors in those fields; power is more commonly spread across tribal territories all across the countryside.

Description: Humanoid but inhuman. Skin color follows normal human pigmentation for temperate climates, from very fair to dark red hues. Hair color runs from white blond to black, with red being much more common than in human norm, and eye colors which are much more varied; purple irises are rare but not unheard of, while yellow or gold is most common behind brown. Average height of around 6’ for both males and females, with a much higher muscle density driven by a voracious omnivorous metabolism. However, Lakelander psychology is where the true divide is; however similar to humans physically, their minds are quite alien. Closer to their instincts, Lakelanders often seem animalistic or bestial, a behavior complemented by their angular features and sometimes lupine eyes.

Government: Paramount Chiefdom, meritocratic selection. Lakelanders are likely to accept their place in a hierarchy once their superiors have been tested, allowing stable chains of command to exist without the need for external enforcement. They take a simplistic, black-and-white approach to life, often expressed through a might-makes-right system of ethics; what constitutes might is often contextual, and does not always mean physical strength or skill at arms. This mindset leads to, or perhaps stems from, a lack of capacity for abstraction and complex thinking. With most of their higher level social organization reliant on instinct, they have no need to create complicated legal systems or artificial hierarchies.