Settlements By the Sea II

Episode Two: More than coffee brewing in the woods

In the South

It is said that this is where the Wizard-King colonizers of Settle are from. But the fact is that even these human-dominated parts, most everybody doesn’t look like them. This causes more than a bit of skepticism. The rolling hills and forests of the region have been lightly inhabited by speaking-Kinds for at least two millennia.

The Towers of the Bearded

In the South and Forestia the last of the would-be Wizard-Kings that colonized the lands of the Dogger Flows, the ancient magician known as Longbeard, the Great and White, (sometimes called the Big White) saw the threats to his civilization and his belief system centuries ago. It started with the raiders from the Far Lands and then all the kings and princes giving up their roles as Lords and protectors of their households. Having his minions craft a series of fortresses throughout the land to maintain some sort of hold on his one time glorious world.

As more and more humans became too weak to bare their responsibility of leadership and fall into the trap of accepting a diverse world order around them. Longbeard would have to forge minion creations to man these last areas of true manliness and proper thought. He would produce the Bearded races to try to shore up his holdings. Far from the lords of all they see, these creatures blight their territories and only envy the evolving world around them.

The Wizard Longbeard- These days, he is sleeping more often than he is awake. Still using his mind trained for world domination, his dreams will walk among the waking world through his avatars. His avatars have an assortment of spells and psionic capabilities (about 2d3) but only in his original form, that of a six hundred year-old human, can he access all of his thaumaturgy and psychic powers.

The Bearded:

Bloodbeards- Even though this mutated species of dwarves escaped from their hellish fate in the dimension of Qalidar, they would not be able to overcome their derangement and degeneration. This would make them easy pickings for the Big White. They would become the prime breeding stock of the wizard’s brood armies. Still they are the elite of the Bearded. Capable warriors they can also learn spells. More than a couple of them are psychic and can perform psionic abilities. 

 

Beardos- These dwarve-like creatures have just enough Bloodbeard juice in their veins for the dementia required to serve Longbeard with their powerful physiques. They like obeying very simple orders by those inclined to give them even more than they like fighting. They still love fighting so much that whey turn on each other when no one clean shaven is around.

Weirdbeards- Very human-like in stature and even mentality but both sexes have beards. Many become wielders of magic or artisans not only warriors. Beardos are instinctively differential to this Kind. But the would-be Wizard-King can possess any one of them at any given time, making the individual his avatar usually for the rest of their lives.