"Pull up to the bar, lad, and get yourself a tankard. What do you mean you've never seen a Skrel'eth before? You can't swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting a Skrell! No matter though! Not so many of us in these parts as in our homeland, Tarkas. We're hard to miss in a crowd, though, we stand a head taller then most others and this blue skin ain't cause we're holding our breath!" the large fellow guffawed a bit raucously and I laughed along, a shade timidly. In my travels I have found it best not to anger men a foot taller then I wearing armour and with a warhammer on their hip.

He caught my glance at the weapon and reached out to clap me on the shoulder with jocular intent though the contact nearly jarred my eyeteeth loose. "OH, worry not for that lad, I may know well the use of my weapon but I am no brigand or footpad." he chuckled. "No Skrel'eth worth the his Legacy would sink to such things. Looking a bit confused there, lad. Oh! The Legacy." he smiled a little as he continued, "Well, we Skrel'eth, we are all linked together by blood. All of a Clan can remember what our ancestors lived. Not well, mind you, kinda like a vague sensation of familiarity when we do something. But our Loregivers...your people might call them shamans, they are mystics who can help a Skrel'eth look deeper into his Legacy, to see the greatest moments of heroism and valor in his peoples history... And also their darkest deeds." His tone seemed a bit subdued at this last part and I couldn't help but wonder if in his own Legacy he had seen something dark. Before I could ask he was off again...

"So you see, lad, people wonder why Skrell are more likely to do the honourable thing, why they are known for their trustworthiness. The Legacy. Anything we do we know it will be seen by those who come after us. And we do not want to bring shame on our Clan. If a Skrel'eth is known to act in a manner that will tarnish a clan's Legacy they are dealt with quickly. Grave offences merit grave punishments and even the minor ones are dealt with harshly, though the offender will be given a second chance. There are no third chances." he explained darkly.

"Enough of such talk! My people are not given to brooding over what we cannot change or what has not happened yet. One of our great Loregivers, Tanilak, said that our people's attitude about life was summed up by two phrases. 'What is past is passed.', meaning there is no way to change what has happened already, so best to move on, and 'Do not worry about what might happen, think only of what you must do.' This means that if the outcome could be either bad or good for you, focus on what you have to do to make things go your way. Worrying about something bad just makes it more likely to happen." He finished his tankard with those words but before I could offer to buy him another the barman appeared with a fresh one.

"All in all, my people are simple. We live off the land, eating what we can hunt or forage for, we build simple villages not the cities of mortar and stone that other races seem to favour. We take pleasure in the simple things in life. A good stout, a good story, a good fight, and good companionship. What else matters? And speaking of which..." he lifts his tankard and drains it so quickly that I wonder if there was anything in it in the first place. "My mate is waiting on me." he grins. "Perhaps we will meet again and I can tell you more of my people. Balor's strength to you, lad. Safe journeys."

Skrel'eth - Vital Statistics

Name of Race: Skrel'eth, plural Skrell

 

Height range:

Males 5'10" - 6'8" norm

Females 5' 8" - 6'8" norm

 

Weight range:

Males 200 - 350 lb.

Females 160 - 300 lb.

 

Age ranges: Child 1 - 5, Young Adult 6 - 9, Adult 10 - 49, Old age 50 - 60


Build:

Broad shouldered and stocky, they live a very physical lifestyle and it shows in their musculature.

 

Hair colour range:

Blacks and blues, Skrell do grey in the last 5 years of their life.

 

Eye colour range:

The normal range of colors, though they lean towards blues.

 

Skin colour range:

From cyan to indigo, though members of a clan will be in a closer range of colors.

 

Any other differences from the 'norm': 'Deer'-like ears.

 

Population: 45K

 

Number of villages:

5 (Perran, Pha'kat, Kharn'at, Cav'tlan, Tana'asht)

 

Averge number of offspring per family:

11, though only 2-3 survive to adulthood. 

 

Technology Level:

Low tech, hunter gatherer society, though through interaction with the humans that have 15th century technology regarding metallurgy, armourcrafting and weaponsmithing. Though they CAN make plate and chain armors, they mostly make Scale and brigandine as its better to make 10 suits of scale then one suit of chain. Some Skrell have chain or plate but it is almost always through a human source.

 

Weapon Types:

Spears, Great Axes, War hammers, two handed swords, maces, pole arms, battle axes. Typically a village will have a dominant weapon type, though some clan members may use other weapons, exceptionally.

 

Armour Types:

Thick hide armors, leather, studded leather and scale. They have the technology to make better, but consider simpler armors better uses of time and material.

 

Building Type:

Huts, lodges, teepi, leantos, dug outs. Simple rustic structures, no second floors though some do have small cellars.

 

Main Foods They Eat:

Meat! If its meat, lets eat! They also forage for a large amount of tubers, berries and fruits, in season, and herbs to enrich their diet. Some fish.

Typical Clothing Style:

Armor, often as not, through they wear furs as well.

 

Typical Occupations:

Theyre warriors. When theyre not killing things, some work as smiths, hunters, gatherers, tanners, brewers and armourers, training koboar.

 

Method of Tansport:

The Shoe Leather Express. They dont have ships or boats, theyre not traders or fishermen and have little interest, as a people, of going to Heas. Individuals with wanderlust may decide to, but they can buy passage on a merchant ship going between Perran and Heas.

Gods and Worship of:

They revere all the Seven, though Balor is their patron.

 

The Darkness:

A test. They will not fail.


Their View of Magic:

As any other tool, its useful but it doesnt replace a good axe and a strong arm.

 

Their View of the Other Races:

They judge each person by their merits, though they do have a bias against Tyen. Fuck em, theyre all dead now anyway. 

Skrel'eth - Towns

Perran:

A traders village on the coast nearest Heas. This village has a large Tir population. Just under 300 years ago a Tyen slave ship with a cargo of over 1000 Tir was wrecked on the island in a winter storm. All the Tyen perishing in the wreck or... uh... shortly thereafter. The Tir were allowed to remain and settle, establishing a new home for themselves. Several times Tyen ships came to try and claim their 'property' back but the ownership of the Tir was not recognized by the Skrel'eth. The last ship was a warship, bearing over two thousand Tyen warriors to take the Tir back by force. The timbers and beams of that ship were used for the construction of several buildings in Perran.

 

Pha'kat (Pa, not f )

A village for Skrell refugees who made it to the island after the Cataclysm and are clan-less, for the most part. Typically a clan-less Skrell is an outcast, disgraced, but the cataclysm has made for strange times. Though some stigmata remains, the people of this place do their best to go about their life without the security of a clan. Stronger individuals are often accepted into the islands clans, often by marriage.

 

And three villages of the dominant clans of the island:

Kharn'at

A coastal village on the Southern edge of the habitable area.

Cav'tlan

A village inland and on the islands Northern half. These two raid each other regularly, meeting in the middle for arranged battles often. For the most part they ignore Pha'kat and the third Skrell village...

Tana'asht

The last was once the largest of clans on the island and the largest of villages but it is -just- inside the habitable area and now faces a nearly daily fight to keep the demons from their gates. They will not retreat, they will not surrender. No clans have offered assistance, nor will they ask for any.