Races (The Ashen Sagas Setting)

Races

Here lie the half-men, full-men, green-men and wooden men

horse-men and elf-men and not-quite-dead-men.

Their corpses food for grass

Their bones crushed to dust.

- A Scald's Poem on the Broken Plain

Aasimars

Volo's Guide to Monsters pg.104

The Valkyrie's were once the messengers of Darradr, who brought the worthy up to the Great Drinking Hall of Aesirheim. But with the loss of Aesirheim, and Darradr's death, the Valkyries that survived the Tearing faded into history. Their lineage however lives on through some mortals; the Aasimar.

These celestial mortal hybrids are a rare occurrence, and depending where they are born, they can either live in complete comfort (or as much as one can get in Askaland) and held up as living embodiment of the days of old, or be cast out as freaks and forced to fend for themselves in the unforgiving wilderness.

Assimar's are still called by the spirits of their Valkyrie ancestors to find glory and honor in the battlefield, a calling some Assimar's who want to just survive day to day, consider a curse. Many, foolhardy Assimar have ended up in a troll's gullet than in the stories of bards for following the advice of their spiritual guides. Other's have been branded cowards by their ancestor and abandoned for showing caution instead of recklessness.

How They're Different

In the Ashen Sagas Campaign setting the spirit guide of the Aasimar is more fixated on glory than goodness. While a spirit guide in another game may accept diplomacy as a usable means to stem the tide of evil and bring damned souls to the light, the spirit guides of the Aasimar in Askaland, true to their Valkyrie nature instead urge their hosts to battle, dismissing diplomacy as cowardice.

Dwarves

The Dwarves are a fractured people. During the Tearing the Jotun, Brimir the Young, bested the dwarven god Dwergrd in a competition of smithing, throwing Dwergrd and his most loyal dwarves out into the mortal realm of Askaland, and occupying the Dwarven plane of Nidavellir with his army. After the Tearing the Dwarves are split between the now increasingly xenophobic and unstable Dwergrd, and the stern but fair rule of Brimir.

Nidavellir

The Dwarves that remained in Nidavellir, while worked ragged during the Tearing, were given the ability under Brimir to rise among social ranks, even being able to out rank their giant and elemental invaders if they worked hard enough. This meritocratic class system unheard of under Dwergrd and the Dwarven Lords who cared more of blood and history than actual skill and determination. This has allowed the Dwarves that remained to thrive in a system of competition and politics but it became necessary for the Dwarves to allow some of their ideologies and codes to grow more flexible. Individualism flourished and dedication to coworkers and superiors replaced the bonds within their clans, at least when it suits them.

Dwarves of Nidavellir are known to be crafty, ambitious, and self-serving but they are also known to be individualistic, industrious and flexible.

Nidavellir Dwarf
Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 1
Strong Back Labor: The Nidavellir dwarves are known for their strength that they've honed to compete with the giants they work with. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Shattered Spires

The Dwarves that were cast out of Nidavellir to follow their defeated god Dwergrd, took refuge in the old Dwarven city of Reifjall. In the cold and treacherous peaks, the Dwarves turned as cold and hard as the mountains they lived in to survive, raiding nearby settlements and enslaving other races, they viewed as "beneath" their noble lineages. Even so they cling to their ancient noble traditions to the letter, and will honor oaths and repay debts.

Dwarves of the Shattered Spires are known to be xenophobic, dogmatic, and cruel but they are also known to be honorable, tough and loyal.

Shattered Spires Dwarf
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1
Grudge Bearers: The fury and hatred your god bears for the other races, deeply affects you. Choose a type of creature to bear the burden of your wrath: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. During the first round of any combat against your chosen foe, your attack rolls against any of them have advantage. When any of your chosen foes makes an opportunity attack against you, it makes the attack roll with disadvantage.

Humans

Player's Handbook pg. 29

Humans are the most abundant race in Askaland. While humanity dwindled during the Last War, used as cannon fodder of the gods against the armies of the Jotun, their resilient and adaptive nature served them well for what came after. While their numbers are not anywhere near what it was before the Last War they have out populated all of the other races, and have been the most successful in carving out pockets of safety out of wilderness. Indeed, most other races in Askaland, except for the dwarves, rely on human settlements for if not a safe place to live, at least for trade.

They are however, also the most varied, belonging to different clans, regions and cultures.

Vulflaw

Humans of the Vulflaw are known to be haughty and prideful as their god Vulfadir chose them as his people (in reality they just happened to build settlement around his den, but don't tell them that). They are called soft by other humans as they rely on Vulfadir for their protection instead of fighting on their own, and this may be in a way true, as they have the substantially lower percentage of warriors than humans living in other regions. However, what they don't have in marital prowess, they make up with unwavering almost suicidal dedication to their god that would make even the most savage barbarian of Bjornlund hesitate to attack one of them.

Humans of the Vulflaw are known to be xenophobic, haughty and preachy, but they are also known to be pious, cultured and brave.

Breidrwall

Humans of the Briedrwall are sturdy folk who are as unwavering as the stones they carve their homes into. The humans there talk very little and smile even less so as in the cold climate and around constant danger makes there is not much to laugh at. Even so, humans of the Briedrwall are very good friends and loyal to a fault. Every clan knows that survival depends on cooperation and trust and as a result, out of all of humanity they may be the most accepting of other races, taking in Drow, Trollkin, Yetifolk and Elves into their settlement. They are however very slow to trust Dwarves as they have had to fight off Dwarven slavers that come down from the Shattered Spires for generations.

Humans of the Briedrwall are known to be grim, blunt, and stubborn but they are also known to be tolerant, loyal and hardworking.

Bjornlund

Humans of the Bjornlund act on instinct more than logic or social codes. This make dealing with them difficult. A man who accepted you into his hearth as a guest, gave you his best drink, and sang songs with you during one year, may, on the following, slit your throat while you sleep to steal your belongings, so his family may survive the winter. To some such an action would be horrific and a terrible betrayal but to the humans of the Bjornlund, that's just the nature of life. To the humans of the Bjornlund blood is a bond more important than any other and survival of the fittest is the law of the land. Perhaps because they know how short and savage life is, they are also the most jovial of all humanity. An old saying around the Bjornlund is "Laughter is free, and mead is cheap" and they try to get enough of both before they die.

Humans of the Bjornlund are know to be brutal, uncultured and untrustworthy but they are also known to be cheerful, driven and free.

Trollkin

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