Spacers: Voyages of the Arcadia 27, View from Hambone Station

 

600 AD: Proto-Kelts in the 7th Century, the Nearly

(Peryton)

" I like proto-Bavarian or maybe half-neanderthal. The neanderthal angle is interesting because the Island Celts had a legend that, when they arrived in Britain, they had to push out a race of ugly giants. And an isolated community in Bavaria seems like a reasonable place to find more-than-usual neanderthal heritage."

Along side the humans, these beings would come to know the Universe, They were those that came about as the Trees made Land welcoming. They were those that were born as the seeds of the Now and would take hold. The Nearly, mostly human, as a culture have watched the Sea separate from Land. 

   Up in the mountains, as they fear the Sea with His anger about being separated from their mother, the Sky, the are stranded on Land. The Nearly have dealt with first the neanderthals and then the humans as partners as the Cosmos have unfurled around them. This has worked only so well for them.
   The humans new One God thing is causing the Cosmos to go mythical. As refugees on land from the Sky-Sea Cosmos, this means the Nearlys inevitable demise. At the same time they have to deal with the world of 600 A.D. going on around them. They are doomed but the world around them probably isn't up to their extinction.

The Nearly Player-Character in 600 A.D: 
 Protecting Dryad-Trees only found in the deepest of forests, the Nearly areat home in wilderness. As they are tied to magic along threads being woven by the Stitch Witches weaving the Cosmos around all beings in the Universe, a world's elements hold only so weight upon them. 

Been Here  +10% to any Perception roll.
Done That +5% to any Knowledge roll. 

600 AD: Elves Against Myth

 

The Tim Kirk of Iceland's take on elf

Elfkind has been around even before the Sky separated from the Sea and the Trees grew on Land. In  600 A.D. , they are often described as angels that did not chose a side when Lucifer tried to defy God. Tied to magic and the working of magicks, but also tied to the goings on by the mundane creatures around them. For most practicing Good Old Tyme Religion, umm Paganism, you idiots, elves are a primordial species that aren't trolls (titans or monsters, if you're from the Greek center of the world).

An elf-princess on her way to the dance party

   Those in this most modern of world in the year of Our Lord 600, elves are watching that One God thing making most the Cosmos go mythical. That said, they aren't exactly opposed to Christendom, located in the Parchment. Marble, and Steel Valley. That is all the cutting edge spots between Rome and Constantinople. Elves aren't fans of chaos and misery that cyclopsi and storm giants have liked to impose on those around them. They, in their eternal wilderness, can withstand the mundane. They have after all survived the separation of the Sky from the Sea, and helped grow the Tress on the Land. 

   Reincarnation, while essential to the species survival, it really gets on their nerves though. They are immortal in age, but not eternal in form, at least since when the Sky separated from the Sea. Elves live many lives. It's not a pleasant quest working their way out of any of the many damnation pits lying just beyond whatever mortal coils of the Cosmos. Memory as well as ancient wisdom is lost. These lost things though can be recovered. This is while the elf is in a new skin. The elvish can't complain too much. 

   An elf can't complain too much...

The Elf Player-Character in 600 A.D:

  
 Sprung from Dryad-Trees only found in the deepest of forests, elves are here to protect those around them from chaos. As they are tied to magic along threads being woven by the Stitch Witches weaving the Cosmos around all beings in the Universe, a world's elements hold only so weight upon them. 

Been Here  +15% to any Perception roll.
Done That +20% to any Knowledge roll.

300 AD: Not Humanly Possible

 

Saint Christopher, for reals.

Let's talk about non-human species for this game.

Now Runequest, RQ, is known for "strange" monsters. I put "strange" in quotations because the people saying these things think that Stat-Trap monsters designed to to play against rules and based on weird plastic dinosaurs, looking at the Rust Monster, are normal. So of course, me being so normal, I am going with based off of scholastic works that actually exist-- I am being scientific. Yeah right. Still using what we now call folkloric sources, which would be called "educated" at the start of the Seventh Century AD. I'm such good weird fantasist that reality falls into my lap. 

   The Dog-Heads
According to Wikipedia it's called "cynocephaly." I call them dog-heads, not "dogfaces." "Faces" is a World War Two term for Army grunts because ring-knocking West Point Officers giving orders to about 3/4-trained conscripts like they were dogs in combat. Dog-Heads have popped up throughout history. They start appearing in strict Biblical iconography since about 300 AD and didn't stop there. Despite Dog-heads being a metaphor for accomplished but illiterate people, I find them the most fascinating non-human "race" ever these days. Yes, they had that convention of language, metaphors,  before 1993. So mixing and mismatching  here's my lore:
  My-Take: Residing beside humanity since the skies were separated from the seas and trees grew on the land, dog-heads have been around humanity. It is said that they even older than wolves or real dogs, those species evolved from the cynophalids(?).  They have been able to avoid going MYTH because of their acceptance of the human regime of how things should be. Lately though, the muslin-wearing Islamic-worshiping mystics have associated the dog-heads with the ghul And when ghouls show their undead essence to to the travelers that those demons have been trying to seduced, the dog-like head of the collapsed corpse would remain. So Dog-Heads have been getting the short end of things especially for the last century and then some. 

PC Race- Dog-Head
   
   As they are canine in nature, they tend to adopt the Character with the highest Charisma around them as their leader. As people move in and out their lives, SAVES on CHARM will be required to maintain loyalty.

Dog Luck Keen Hearing, Smell, and Tastes- +15% to any Perception roll.


   Pilt-Downer
As the Sky continues to separate from the Sea and the Trees grow ever larger on the Land, Ogres continue to face the problem that the world just isn't big enough for them. Wherever more natural folks liked to live, the ogres would have to go away. Pilt-Downers are their last defense against the World Occurring. 
   The size of human children bit possessed with the presence (INT and CHR) and strength (STR and DEX) of an adult.While they try to avoid the World's attention (+10% to SNEAK rolls), they tend to die young (-10% on CON Saves).

Down and Pilt: 50% chance of learning any spell cast at or on them.