The Shaedhe

Little is known of the origins of the people called the Shaedhe, save that they first appeared at the edges of the Brightspire’s illumination almost four thousand years ago, claiming they had travelled there from across the ocean. Such a journey was difficult to believe, but the first of the migrants assured our ancestors that the oceans, while challenging to navigate, were almost entirely free of Thramorri. In fact, aside from a single, powerful storm, the travellers had experienced an almost uneventful journey. The ship the Shaedhe arrived on was unlike anything seen before; it was a technological marvel, with no discernable arcane principles at play anywhere. The ship was huge, large enough to carry almost two thousand of these strangers, and it had almost run out of the substance used to power it when the Shaedhe captain had spied the light of the Brightspire on the horizon. In fact, the last of the ship’s power gave out almost as soon as it had moored itself along the ruins of one of the ancient marine causeways located in Brightspire’s harbour. The shell of that ancient ship can still be seen there today, partially submerged in the waters of the bay.
The Shaedhe offered to share their technological expertise with the residents of the city, in exchange for being granted a space to live somewhere within the radius of the Brightspire. The residents of that Lamp were also told to expect one or possibly two other Shaedhe vessels in the coming weeks, although if they did not arrive by then, they would likely never come. The Shaedhe had been driven from their ancient homeland far to the East by a Thramorri warlord of unprecedented power. According to the Shaedhe, the Thramorri kingdoms in their homeland had built a powerful military alliance which swept through non-Thramorri lands with ease. When asked how the Thramorri were able to enter the protection of the Lamps, the Shaedhe revealed that where they came from, there were no Lamps such as the ones they found here. Instead, small city-states of humans and Shaedhe were carved out of cliff faces along the rocky coasts of their homeland. In each network of caves and caverns many tens of thousands of residents went about their lives, protected on all sides by hundreds of feet of solid rock. The caverns were powered by vast underwater machines that enabled the Shaedhe to light their caverns with bright lights. Unfortunately, the lights only moderately discomforted the Thramorri who were able to develop countermeasures rather quickly. In the end, the leaders of one of the Shaedhe cities, realizing that they could not hope to defeat the Thramorri invaders, decided to expend the settlement’s resources on the construction of a small fleet of vessels capable of travelling across the ocean. Their own ancient records indicated the presence of a vast continent far to the West; perhaps there they would find solace.
Physically, the Shaedhe are only slightly smaller than humans, standing between five and five and a half feet tall, and weighing between 90 and 120 pounds. Their features are finely sculpted and handsome, with an alien sharpness to them that reminds many humans of foxes. Their skin ranges in colour from dark brown to pale white, and their hair, unlike the hair of humans, comes in hues of orange, red, and even sometime purple, in addition to the range of colours found in humans.
Shaedhe eyes are large and almond-shaped, and can range in colour from dark blue or green, to brown, black, and occasionally lavender. Shaedhe and Human couples can easily mate and have children, who tend to strongly reflect the physical features of their Shaedhe parents.
Shaedhe engineers were immediately recognized for their technological aptitude and through their knowledge a number of new innovations began to appear in cities up and down the Lamp paths leading from the Brightspire, including simple chemical batteries and rudimentary electrical lighting in smaller communities to rudimentary hydroelectric power in larger centres. For a brief period steam engines were appearing in cities across the known world, but their construction proved too costly and eventually most engines were abandoned in favour of cheaper, more reliable arcane power sources. It is not uncommon however for modern visitors to several of the larger cities to see one or two steam-powered devices at work somewhere.
By the current year, the Shaedhe number in the many tens of thousands, and can be found in communities large and small throughout the Lamp network. Many of the most promising engineers and magi – and more than a few rogue scholars who seek to unite the two disciplines – can be found among the Shaedhe. To this day there remains a powerful desire within Shaedhe communities to return to their ancient homeland; perhaps this is the motivation for so many young Shaedhe to become proficient in the technological or arcane arts.