Geit
There are many winds on Jotun, but only one with a name.
Though the Shrikevind is quick to scold any Geit foolish enough to mount a sail on his ship or build his mead hall above the ice, it is this same howling torrent that once carved the cracks from Jotun’s glaciers which now protect the Clans from the sphere’s blizzards and fire giants.
The Geit clans are an assembly of horned warriors and antlered druids. They hearken from the inhospitable sphere called Jotun with a frozen surface and a boiling core. The Geit live inside glaciers hollowed out by artifacts called Embermuurs, which are essentially giant nectar-powered heaters that can make even the coldest climates hospitable.
Living in the ice shields the Geit from the Sphere’s howling winds, which can rip the sail from a man’s ship just as easily as they’ll rip the skin from his bones. Even though the Geit have never held Source, they’ve conquered it more times than any other race in the Fractured Histories.
Since the Geit forefathers first gazed upon Source passing over Jotun, the Clans have engaged in perpetual conflict for nectar and the heat it brings to their cities’ embermuurs. In the days before the Alliance, this meant sending warships across the sphere’s glacial canals to rival city-states and pillaging nectar to provide warmer nights for their homes.
Physical Characteristics
Geit are human-like creatures ranging from 5’-8’ tall and 130-300 pounds. The Geit “race” is actually an amalgam of different subspecies distinguished by the appendages attached to their heads. Most Geit have the spiraled horns of mountain goats, but many (particularly females) sport the antlers of a buck. Rarer specimens have been seen to feature horns or antlers from more exotic species such as elk, rhinoceroses, or narwhals.Racial Edges:
Infrared Vision.Grants a +1 bonus to spot checks made against living creatures with a heat signature that are obscured by darkness or physical obstructions. This becomes a +2 bonus in climates below zero degrees.
Shrike-Bellied. Living on Jotun has blessed Geit with the uncanny ability to digest anything. This has led to a cuisine that is as expansive as it is strange. A Geit can alleviate hunger by digesting any item that is or was once alive and are immune to ingested poisons or other stomach irritants like spicy food.
Blood of Ember. Geit are naturally resistant to cold climates and gain a +2 bonus to checks made to resist damage from cold temperatures or ice based attacks.
Charge (Sprinting Edge). Stubborn and headstrong (literally)—Geit permit no enemy to stand between them and where they want to go. Geit sprint with their chins tucked in and charge horns-first. Geit may sprint through squares occupied by enemies. Enemies hit by a charge are moved 1” to the left or right.
Backgrounds
Thrall
While most outsiders’ contact with Jotun is through the Clans, membership is often limited to the strong or politically powerful. The vast majority of Geit live in villages along the canyons only partially shielded from the elements. The Thrall are seafarers who chart their course by the narrow skies of Jotun’s high-walled glacial canals. They are multi-disciplined warriors who use their ships to perform mercenary work for the Clans or explore unknown regions of the sphere in hopes to one day join a Clan or, perhaps, to find an undiscovered Embermuur and start one of their own.Background Skills: 1d6 Survival, 1d6 Navigation, 1d6 Helmsman
Background Edge: Shrikevind Drill Training. When you are the victim of a surprise attack, you remain flat-footed for only the first enemy’s attack (whether it is made against you or a party member) rather than the enemy’s entire first turn.
Clan Warden
Charged with solemn duties of managing the Clan’s ships and mercenary forces as well as keeping the Embermuur fueled, Clan Wardens functions are more akin to a general than an aristocrat. In the past, the competence of its Wardens determined whether the Clan survived the cycle. In the days of the Alliance, however, most Wardens are more concerned with ensuring that their city has warmer nights than its neighbors and making the often overblown boasts and promises of their proud Clan Chiefs a reality.Background Skills: Diplomacy 1d6, Assess Person 1d4.
Background Edge: Scarcity Logistics. Gain an extra use out of all rations consumed by the party.
White Druid
The high walls of the glaciers protect most Geit communities, but the druids live above the ice to commune with the natural forces of the planet. Some say that ancient pacts with Jotun itself forbid the Shrikevind from passing through druid enclaves; others say that the druid elders possess secret maps of the winds’ course that dictate their enclave’s movements. Regardless it is no secret that all Geit Druids have a certain power over the winds. The Fractured Histories cite several instances where druids have managed to calm the Shrikevind for brief periods, and one account even describes a druid single handedly destroying two warring Clans by commanding the Shrikevind against them.Background Skills: Astral Combat 1d4, Survival 1d4, Animal Handling 1d4.
Background Edge: Wind Affinity. Add +1 to any wind or lightning based attack from enchantments, imbibification, or figments.
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