I've been working on a world for the past half a year, and I believe I've finalised the first race of humanoids on my world. For the most part, all the intelligent species on my world are human with a flavour, which is environment based evolution at work.
With a huge generalisation, the Elsvidd are tall and lean humans, with pale red skin. Their place of origin is towards the hotter edge of the band of habitable land on their tide-locked world, under a red sun. They have evolved the red skin to reflect some of the infra-red light that the sun generates, allowing them greater resistance to the heat of the world around them.
Once upon a time, they were nomadic, but have since settled into towns and cities, of which these are currently unnamed.
They mostly wear animal skins - their land is home to many variants of lizard like creatures, so the hides make for decent armour for their warriors. Bare skin is not much of a problem for them, as most warriors are agile, and keep distance until they are ready, learning from fights against large land lizards. As for weapons, lizard claws have made for good spear tips until they began working bronze, as their land is rich in tin and copper, along with a few other metals that create regional alloys. Their primary weapons are axes and spears, making use of the hardness of bronze to hold an edge, but also bowing to its liability to break if the blades are too long. They accept the value of imperial currency, but also have their own currency made up of lizard claws, valued by weight. These are becoming less favourable as time goes on, purely because imperial currency is easier, and use is spreading.
Their society favours strength, but not only physical strength. People earn the right to be followed, and those that fail to survive are deemed not good enough to be followed, so a high King or Queen that is killed in battle is not mourned, except by the clan they belong to, for they were not strong enough. Underhanded tactics are very frowned upon, so assassination and poison are not valid claims to have defeated a King or Queen.
The throne is passed down to someone of the current King/Queen's choice. yes, this may be their offspring, but if the current king/queen knows that they are not strong or smart enough to survive, they are likely to choose someone else to succeed them, if for no other reason than to protect their offspring.
Those that are not physically strong enough to defend themselves will keep loyal huskarls around to act as bodyguards and champions, letting them fight challengers. There have been several times in history when a huskarl was chosen poorly, and they killed their king for doing something deemed to be a poor choice for the people.
Anyone can own land, and anyone can lead a clan. The Family unit is not seen in this culture. Instead, pledges of fealty are made to someone who leads a clan, and they take on that clan name. This is the closest they have to marriage. Relationships are kept known, to limit the chances of inbreeding, but other than this, any relations are allowed, and encouraged for the purposes of keeping up the strength of the people.
These people primarily follow the God of Light, Ellios, who is seen to be the red sun that hangs in the sky perpetually. He chooses the fate of the worst criminals, as the people throw the offender off a cliff to the waters below, which are full of blow holes close to the cliff face. Should Ellios see the person as innocent, they will be launched by these blowholes back to safety atop the cliff. Otherwise, they will drown. A harsh punishment system, true. None have been known to be innocent in this way, but some have managed to make their way to other points where they can regain the land, and have been seen innocent through survival. Ellios' judgment is the test of choice for anyone found guilty of underhanded assassinations and poisoning, as well as murder, and other nasty crimes. Theft is dealt with by imprisonment for a duration in keeping with the value of the stolen items.
What does everyone think?
With a huge generalisation, the Elsvidd are tall and lean humans, with pale red skin. Their place of origin is towards the hotter edge of the band of habitable land on their tide-locked world, under a red sun. They have evolved the red skin to reflect some of the infra-red light that the sun generates, allowing them greater resistance to the heat of the world around them.
Once upon a time, they were nomadic, but have since settled into towns and cities, of which these are currently unnamed.
They mostly wear animal skins - their land is home to many variants of lizard like creatures, so the hides make for decent armour for their warriors. Bare skin is not much of a problem for them, as most warriors are agile, and keep distance until they are ready, learning from fights against large land lizards. As for weapons, lizard claws have made for good spear tips until they began working bronze, as their land is rich in tin and copper, along with a few other metals that create regional alloys. Their primary weapons are axes and spears, making use of the hardness of bronze to hold an edge, but also bowing to its liability to break if the blades are too long. They accept the value of imperial currency, but also have their own currency made up of lizard claws, valued by weight. These are becoming less favourable as time goes on, purely because imperial currency is easier, and use is spreading.
Their society favours strength, but not only physical strength. People earn the right to be followed, and those that fail to survive are deemed not good enough to be followed, so a high King or Queen that is killed in battle is not mourned, except by the clan they belong to, for they were not strong enough. Underhanded tactics are very frowned upon, so assassination and poison are not valid claims to have defeated a King or Queen.
The throne is passed down to someone of the current King/Queen's choice. yes, this may be their offspring, but if the current king/queen knows that they are not strong or smart enough to survive, they are likely to choose someone else to succeed them, if for no other reason than to protect their offspring.
Those that are not physically strong enough to defend themselves will keep loyal huskarls around to act as bodyguards and champions, letting them fight challengers. There have been several times in history when a huskarl was chosen poorly, and they killed their king for doing something deemed to be a poor choice for the people.
Anyone can own land, and anyone can lead a clan. The Family unit is not seen in this culture. Instead, pledges of fealty are made to someone who leads a clan, and they take on that clan name. This is the closest they have to marriage. Relationships are kept known, to limit the chances of inbreeding, but other than this, any relations are allowed, and encouraged for the purposes of keeping up the strength of the people.
These people primarily follow the God of Light, Ellios, who is seen to be the red sun that hangs in the sky perpetually. He chooses the fate of the worst criminals, as the people throw the offender off a cliff to the waters below, which are full of blow holes close to the cliff face. Should Ellios see the person as innocent, they will be launched by these blowholes back to safety atop the cliff. Otherwise, they will drown. A harsh punishment system, true. None have been known to be innocent in this way, but some have managed to make their way to other points where they can regain the land, and have been seen innocent through survival. Ellios' judgment is the test of choice for anyone found guilty of underhanded assassinations and poisoning, as well as murder, and other nasty crimes. Theft is dealt with by imprisonment for a duration in keeping with the value of the stolen items.
What does everyone think?