hule is a barbaric and superstitious place. Human civilization is young, and the great body of art, literature, philosophy, and technology that underlies classic medieval fantasy worlds is incomplete at best. Libraries full of books, chivalric ideals, organized religions, codes of law and traditions of scholarship— all of these things are absent from hule, or exist only in the most primitive forms.
Naturally, some character types are more or less common in such a setting than they would be in a more civilized land. Arcane magic is rare in hule, so there are relatively few arcane spellcasters. If you choose to play a sorcerer or wizard, your character is not one of hundreds of spellcasters thronging a major city; she’s one of a handful in the city who have dared to study secrets beyond mortal lore. A party containing more than one arcane spellcaster would be unusual indeed.
Character Class and Literacy: he ability to read
and write is far less common in hule than in more advanced settings. Most people raised in civilized lands can at least puzzle out writings they encounter, and a good number of people born to savage or barbarian tribes eventually learn how to read and write if they spend a lot of time in and around civilization. How- ever, you shouldn’t assume your character is literate. To determine whether your character is literate, consult the table below and roll an Intelligence check after you select your character class. If you fail, you can check again each time you gain a level to see if your character picked it up from his or her more civilized companions. If you multiclass, you may use the most advantageous category for your check. In addition, you automatically become literate if you select a feat, skill, narrative, or background that suggests literacy (for example, learning how to scribe scrolls or forge docu- ments, or the Bearer of the Black Book narrative).
Table 2–1: Character Class and Literacy
Class Intelligence check DC
Barbarian DC 20 Bard DC 5 Cleric DC 5 Druid DC 15 Fighter DC 15 Monk DC 10 Paladin DC 10 Ranger DC 15 Rogue DC 15 Sorcerer DC 5 Warlock DC 10 Wizard DC 0
Heroes of Thule
44
Illiteracy is not necessarily the drawback it might be in more advanced settings. People in hule expect to interact with a lot of other people who can’t read or write, and take appropriate steps. For example, when sending a message, a merchant might actually dictate a message to the runner instead of handing him a written note; the runner simply recites the message when he inds the recipient. Even people who can’t read can understand tally marks, or recognize very common symbols such as coin denominations.
BARBARIAN
As you might expect in a setting of savage wilderness and ancient civilizations, barbarians can be found anywhere in hule. Barbarians come in two basic varieties: savages and advanced tribes.
Barbarian characters from savage tribes begin their careers as hunters, scouts, or warriors who know little of the lands outside their tribe’s hunting grounds. Savage tribes are small and insular (rarely more than a hundred people or so), so relatively few ever wander into civilized lands or become adventurers. hose individuals who do leave their homelands possess un- matched woodcraft and survival skills, and are prized as wilderness guides or trackers. hese barbarians may be backwards, ignorant, and superstitious, but they aren’t necessarily stupid—given a chance to arm them- selves with better weapons and learn the ways of other lands, they are quick to do so.
Barbarians from more advanced tribes tend to know much more about the world outside their homeland. Stories of civilization’s riches (and delights) draw many restless barbarian warriors to leave their homelands and seek their fortune as mercenaries—or raiders. Tribes of this sort tend to be strong in numbers, comfortable with practices such as agriculture, animal domestication, and metalworking, and more than a little warlike. heir rep- utation as ierce warriors ensures plenty of opportunities for employment in hule’s more civilized lands.
he most important part of a barbarian’s identity (at least at the beginning of her career) is her tribe. Some of the more notable tribes include:
• Ammur: Fierce Dhari hill-clans from Ammu- rath, south of the Kalayan Sea.
• Bearslayer: A tribe of dwarf warriors from the housand Teeth.
• Bolotanga: A savage Dhari tribe from northern Dhar Mesh.
• Drangir: A bloodthirsty Nimothan tribe from Hellumar.
• Hurgan: Nomadic Kalay tribes from the eastern shores of the Kalayan Sea who domesticate and ride hulean elk.
• Jomurjan: Kalay nomads who roam the southern portions of the housand Teeth and the western parts of the Lands of the Long Shadow.
• Kyr: A vicious tribe of Dhari savages from the swamplands of Phoor, notorious headhunters. • Narthan: Nomadic Dhari mammoth-hunters
who roam the plains of Nar.
• Ullathi: Nimothans who launch sea-raids against eastern hule each spring.
BARD
Minstrels and musicians are common enough in hule’s cities, but the heroic bard is not normally found in this setting because arcane magic is so rare. Very few huleans dabble in arcane studies—if a character makes any study of magic at all, she’s much more likely to be a true arcane caster (for example, a sorcerer or wizard) instead of a dilettante. Elves and half-elves are the primary exceptions to this rule; arcane traditions are noticeably more prevalent in elven culture, so an elf bard would not necessarily be out of place in hule. Some Atlantean nobles might also have a range of skills, talents, and magical ability best described by the bard class.
CLERIC
The priesthoods of Thule’s city-states are inf luen- tial, wealthy, and above all mysterious. Each temple is a powerful institution that works to guide the city’s rulers in the proper direction, guard against dangerous inf luences and knowledge, and defend its exalted position at the center of civic life. Most importantly, the temples of the city-states work hard to maintain a monopoly on magical power, safeguarding dangerous artifacts and suppressing unapproved studies of arcane lore. A major temple is a force to be reckoned with in the city’s affairs and a law unto itself, with temple soldiers to arrest wrongdoers and temple inquisitors to pass judgment and carry out sentences.
While temples celebrate their deities’ holy days and often dispense different forms of charity, they do not exist to proselytize for the gods or to look after the population’s spiritual well-being. Thulean priesthoods are more like exclusive societies that are primarily interested in extending their inf lu- ence, amassing wealth and power, and protecting the population from danger of any sort—includ- ing dangerous ideas or innovations. Few are truly altruistic or “good” institutions, although many individual priests aspire to a higher calling and seek to minister to people in need. In centuries past, the inf luence of the great temples did not extend far from the cities, but in the last few decades some of the larger barbarian tribes (such as the Ammur or the various Nimothan tribes) have also turned toward the worship of the Nine. Priests from these tribes naturally are much less interested in the in- trigues and power plays of the city-state temples.
Most priests are administrators and scholars who work to advance their temple’s interests, and do not
Heroes of Thule
45
actually wield any form of divine magic. Clerics form a distinct “inner circle” within each temple priesthood, an elite order of leaders and special agents initiated into the deeper secrets of the temple and entrusted with the power of divine magic. Not all clerics eventually rise to the highest ranks of the priesthood, but any high priest is almost certainly ini- tiated into this inner circle and is therefore a cleric.
Since clerics are so closely associated with the inner circles of the temples they serve, choosing a temple for a cleric character is an important part of building that character’s background. Some good choices include:
• he Winged Tower in Katagia (temple of Asura). • he High Temple of Ishtar in Quodeth.
• he Golden Hall of Mithra in Quodeth. • he Hall of a housand Victories in Lomar
(temple of Nergal).
• he Jade Temple in Ikath (temple of Set). • he Hall of Broken Shields in Nim (temple of
Tarhun).
he various deities of hule are described in detail in Chapter 1. In addition, two unique cleric domains are found in hule: the Cosmic Domain and the Ophidian Domain.