The only survivors were those who had remained in the south, outside the land called Dragon Pass. For two hundred years, Dragon Pass was nothing to you but a death sentence, a haunted boneyard, an enemy camp. But civil war in your ancestral lands forced your clan to find a new home. A few heroes dared to
explore the forbidden land to the north. That these heroes returned at all was amazing. That they returned to tell you that the dragons are gone and that Dragon Pass is nearly empty, open for the taking — this is a gift from the gods.

Your clan is part of the second wave of resettlement of Dragon Pass. You number some seven or eight hundred souls: mostly farmers and children, some warriors, a few nobles and magicians and godtalkers. You seized land not far from the holy mountain called Kero Fin, the mountain that gave birth to your
chief god, the god of Storm named Orlanth. You are not the only clan that came north. As many as twenty other clans or splinters of clans
separated themselves from kinfolk and carved homes in this new frontier. Like you, they are Orlanthi. Your relations with these clans, for good or for war, determine whether your clan starts up a path of glory or drifts forgotten with the spirits who haunt this ancient land. As you are gradually becoming aware, the land was never entirely empty. While humans were gone, non-humans such as elves, trolls and dragonewts thrived here unmolested.



You are mortals living in a magical world. The world is alive. Every river and rock has a spirit, as does your clan. The greatest of these spirits sometimes share their magic with humans. The very greatest of the spirits are the gods. Your gods are the source of nearly all the advantages that let your clan survive and prosper. Without the blessings of the gods, your crops will fail, your herds will dwindle, your traders will make stupid bargains and your warriors will fall beneath enemy swords.

You worship the Orlanthi pantheon, the group of gods headed by Orlanth, King of Gods. Orlanth is the god of moving Air, of life-giving Rain, and also of devastating Lightning and sudden Change. He is the unpredictable god of the Storm.

You live inside Time, separate from the timeless realm of the immortals, but able to join with your deities through rituals and quests. Your god-talkers perform rituals to gain divine blessings for trade, farming, and war. Your mightiest leaders heroquest to the Godplane to perform the gods’ original mythic events anew, returning with gifts from the time of Creation.





Your lives are dictated by the wheel of the seasons. In Sea season, the earth shakes off the cold, fresh life springs up in gentle rains and you plant your crops. In Fire season, the fields take care of themselves and the warriors cry for battle and a chance for glory. In Earth season, you put aside the sword and take up the scythe. In Dark season, with the harvest finished, sensible folk stay inside out of the reach of blizzards and ice demons. In Storm season, all things are possible, but nothing is certain.

And, at the end of the year, there are two magical weeks when you return to the timeless realm of the Godplane. You, and all other intelligent beings, perform the Sacred Time rituals that heal and recreate the world, allowing the wheel of Time to begin again with a new year.

The first law of the Orlanthi peoples is that “No one can make you do anything you don’t want to do.” Your chiefs rule by charisma and the consent of the clan, not by force or by bloodline. The second law of the Orlanthi is “But no one can live alone.” All good Orlanthi live in clans, with their kin. This tension between the first law and second law summarizes life in your clan: you are a tradition-bound and violent group of armed and individually-minded farmers who consider generosity and justice to be their chief virtues.

Your leaders, chiefs and kings include both men and women. The differences between the sexes, as you Orlanthi perceive them, are that men are more emotional, prone to uncontrolled anger and impulsive acts. Women are more calculating, capable of keeping track of their original reasons for choosing a path instead of getting caught up in the moment. Men are more often warriors and fighters, but a substantial number of women put aside cooking and rearing children to practice with the sword. The abilities of your clan’s heroes and leaders have less to do with their gender than with the gods they worship: worshipers of war gods excel in combat, the farming gods’ devotees are more at home behind the plow.

Despite your clan’s reliance on its crops, cattle are considered the source of its wealth. Without a good harvest, your people will starve; without large herds of cattle, your people will be seen as stupid beggars. A wealthy clan is a clan with many cattle, and all forms of wealth are measured in cows. A fine silver bracelet worthy of a chief might be worth four or five cows, the timber and materials required to build a tribal hall might be worth as many as thirty cows.



No matter your place in your clan, no matter how lowly your status, you are an Orlanthi and that means you have the power within yourself to become greater then you are. From the lowliest cottar to the greatest thane, through violence, through diplomacy, through charisma, cunning and bravery, you may seize wealth and power, secrets and great magic. If you can take it, it is yours and none may dispute this sacred fact!

Whether merchant or raider, noble or god-talker, there is no way that does not offer you the opportunity for greatness. Peace is no less the mark of a hero than war. The Orlanthi recognize a great peacemaker as being on par with a great conqueror and a canny merchant or masterful explorer as being the equal of a powerful warleader. All paths lead to greatness for an Orlanthi, so long as you have the pride and determination to seize it.

The gods may gift your clan with great magic, but they are not impersonal, far off things. Your relationship with them is personal. When you came of age, you were drawn to one to learn their secrets and initiate into their sacred following, their cult. What god you follow determines your role in life. Most men are drawn to Orlanth and most women to Ernalda, but these gods are so great that they give magic for many things! Most men are farmers, or shepherds, who also fight as part of the militia and Orlanth gives them the magic of farming and war. Most women are a hundred things, weavers, healers, housewives, crafters, cooks and gardeners and so Ernalda gives them the magic of household and peace.

But of course, that is just most people. There are many, many in society who do not follow either of the two. They worship all the pantheon as well, acknowledging Orlanth and Ernalda as queen of the world, but dedicating themself to a deity they personally identify with. Soldiers follow war gods, such as grim humakt, god of death, who demands the destruction of all undead and requires unyielding honor by the men and women who follow him; or Vinga, goddess of women who do men's work, or possibly goddess of women who are men, there is much dispute and accounts differ (this uncertainty is not to be found in his/her counterpart, Nandan who is the goddess of women born as men). Traders are patrons of Issiaries Goldentongue, the talking god, the god of trading and talking, making them not just merchants, but also diplomats and explorers without peer. Scholars and lawspeakers dedicate themselves to Lhankor Mhy, the knowing god, whose cult jealously guards the secrets of literacy and, though women and even non-humans are allowed, must always wear a beard, even a fake one. Healers follow Chalana Arroy, the white woman. While they are bound always to help anyone in need, friend or foe and forbidden from any practice of violence, including eating meat, are peerless in their art, their heroes even knowing the great power of resurrecting the dead.

Some gods however, are not so much occupational as they are cultural. Elmal and Heler are gods worshipped occasionally among many clans, but in a rare few they are second only to Orlanth in importance! In these clans, the secrets of leadership are not derived from the wild Storm or the great Earth, but from the high Sun or the shifting Waters respectively. Elmal is the suffering god of the sun, respected and worshiped by guardians in many clans, especially night watchmen. Among his clans though, he is Orlanth's regent, who watched over them and led them in the Great Darkness. Heler is the gentle god/goddess of the rains and sheep, a shapeshifter of ambiguous gender, worshiped by raincallers, shepherds and those with similar affectations. In their own clans though, Heler is an ancestor or an ancestress, a leader from before time who was as capable of bezerking as calm.

These gods grant you your personal magic in exchange for sacrifice and devotion. Emulating them and honoring them will bring you strength. They are moral exemplars and teachers. Their stories made your world. This is your world. Become the hero you know you can be, call the storm and the earth and lead your clan and your people to greatness!


All thanks given to Greg Stafford, Moon Design Publications and A-sharp.





Name:

Profession:

Personal Diety:

Runes: (These runes inform your character's personality and magic, words in parenthesis are traits associated with them.)

Elemental Rune: (chose one.) Storm(Passionate, proud, unpredictable, violent, masculine) Earth(Pragmatic, worldly, prudent, feminine.) Fire (Honest, loyal, pure.) Water (Mercurial, capricious.) Darkness (cruel, cold, secretive.)

Power Rune: (pairs oppose, chose one) Harmony/Disorder (Forgiving, merciful, peaceful/destructive, reckless, selfish.) Life/Death (Generous, lustful/relentless, ruthless, unemotional.) Truth/Illusion (Observant, truthful/deceitful, cowardly.) Stasis/Movement (Stubborn, inflexible, exacting/adventurous, dynamic, impulsive, reckless.)

Condition Runes: (these are the minor runes of the world, alongside the runes that must be earned. Ones that must be earned Includes Mastery, which denotes a hero, Magic which is symbolic of personal power and Infinity, characteristic of dragons and gods. Minor ones include communication, Law, Cold, Luck and Anti-chaos)

Personality:

Family:

Abilities/Flaws:

Powers:

Possessions:

History: