Redguard

"You say you cannot follow a sword? Well, I say you have strayed from your own too long! Why are you here but to fight? Your prince has shown you the manner of his purest mettle, aye, in metal itself! And this true, unerring razor's message is clear beyond words, for now is not the time for words, but for brave hands, bright swords and blood! Aye boys, it's about blood now, too long frozen in your veins, and you'd rather yourself be rigid than follow me. Well, if you won't, then shamefully know that your prince will. For his blood be solid too, but strained to steel, and tempered in death. Arise the like as he, as swords as we are Crowns the like as he! The prince is dead! Long live the prince!"

— Cyrus' speech to the Restless League

The ancient empire of Yokuda sank beneath the waves in the First Era. Its survivors took refuge on vestigial islands which could not support their population, and so a series of excursions drove them toward Tamriel, and their new home in the desert province of Hammerfell. Since their arrival, this race of men have produced some of the most legendary heroes in Tamrielic history.

Na-Totambu

Purported to have been over twice the size of Tamriel as a whole, the original homeland of the Redguards was a land of vast deserts, far more deadly than even the mighty Alik'r, with craggy mountains rising out of the sand. An endless sea of mountains blocked off foreign lands to the West, jungle and rainforest in the South, dragons in the north, and islands dominated by the evil Left-Handed Elves guarded the East. Despite this opposition, the Yokudan people became an unstoppable force in the continent, and formed an Empire which achieved more than any other in history.
When the Yokudan nobility first united their kingdoms under the ruling council of the Na-Totambu, the Sinestral Elves of the eastern islands formed a confederation in opposition. Although their numbers were few, the elves had learned to augment their magic through elaborate tattoos on their left arm. One skilled Sinestral mage had the power to command storms and summon leviathans capable of wiping out hundreds of human warriors. This struggle for control engulfed the continent, and lasted over a thousand years. The conflict finally came to an end when Diagna, a mortal incarnation of the HoonDing, the Yokudan Make-Way God, brought orichalc weapons to the Yokudans, and the goddess Leki taught them a new technique to wield them more effectively. Within a generation the Lefthanded Elves were driven from the mainland, and in time, from the islands as well. Diagna would go on to be revered as a god in His own right.

The Age of the Sword-Singers

In the early First Era, by Tamrielic count, Yokudans had a continent-spanning empire. Land was divided under the emperor and the Na-Totambu were reduced to feudal lords. For centuries, the emperors ruled over an age of prosperity and innovation, but this peace would be broken in the year 1E 376 when the capitol was stormed by a warlord, who named himself the Elden Yokeda, a military dictator of the land. Lesser Yokeda took swaths of territory, with feudal lords pledging fealty to each. The emperor remained a figurehead, whose only real role was to officiate the naming of the Elden Yokeda. For nearly three-hundred years, the Yokeda warred among themselves, forming and breaking alliances, and always seeking aid from the Elden Yokeda, who ensured none became too powerful to challenge their hegemony.
Yokudans were accomplished artisans, architects, and artists. During this period of continuous civil war, those traditions were poured into a new class of warrior, who pledged themselves to serve the Yokeda, or became mercenaries and adventurers of great fame. They were the Ansei, or "Saints of the Sword", who learned the art of Sword-Singing, a technique allowing them to create blades made of their own life-force called shehai.
The position of Elden Yokeda changed hands many times in this period. Each ruler was far more concerned with maintaining their fragile power. It wasn't until an Ansei named Mansel Sesnit conquered most of the empire, taking the title of Elden that Yokuda was united once more. His reign was brief, but formative, laying the groundwork for power structures that persist into Hammerfell to this day. Sesnit was assassinated in 1E 617, replaced by Randic Torn. Torn's Sword Hunt, wherein he declared it illegal for any non-Ansei to wield a blade, allowed him to truly end the age of civil wars across the empire. This peace cost the ansei their sense of honor. With no hope of raising an army to gain power, the relationship between the yokeda and the ansei had dissolved. They had been employed by Torn as his direct enforcers, and forgot their old loyalties. Ansei walked the streets with weapons and magic at their side, and the impunity granted to them by the ambitious Elden.
Torn's peace collapsed with his death. Suddenly, the rule of the Elder was no more, and there was no clear successor. Yokeda rapidly began forming armies and having weapons forged, trying to be the first to build momentum in the coming war, guaranteeing victory over the others. The first move was struck by a young Emperor Hira, whose alliance quickly overtook the majority of the land. Naming himself Elden Yokeda, Emperor Hira became the first true Emperor of Yokuda in centuries. He quickly secured his power by having all yokeda executed, and outlawing private armies. All able-bodied Yokudans were to serve the emperor if called upon.

Exodus

When Emperor Hira had consolidated power, only the ansei were a threat to him. With a letter, silently written, all ansei became enemies of Yokuda. Their first target was Divad Hunding, a former ansei and bard. During his arrest, Divad's elderly mother was killed. Enraged, Divad channeled the power of his shehai through the chains he was bound in, and slew the hundred guards sent to capture him. Divad became the face of the resistance. The Hiradirge fought from the shadows, but were badly outnumbered. Few were willing to risk execution to protect them, the abuses of ansei during Torn's reign still fresh in the public's mind. Divad was a charismatic leader, but knew he did not have the wisdom to preserve their tradition. He traveled to the secluded home of his father, the legendary ansei master Frandar Hunding, who wished to live out his final years recording his wisdom. When Frandar reluctantly agreed, Hiradirge cells quickly organized into the Army of the Circle, which could strike at the emperor's forces from across the continent.
The war was waged across seven battles, orchestrated by Hunding to both force the emperor's men into the wilderness, and to hone the shehai of his own. In their final confrontation, the Circle ambushed the emperor's forces at Mount Hattu. The ansei were outnumbered thirty to one, but still the sword-singers were victorious, and the emperor had been slain. But when the ecstasy of victory waned, Frandar saw only a mountain soaked in the blood of his own people. He called for a Ra-Gada, a Warrior Wave, where all ansei would leave with him to the eastern continent. He did not command this as Emperor, or as Elden, but asked it of them as a man.
Without another word, the father and son left for a new world, a thousand of their most faithful followers in tow. They settled on the shore of Hammerfell in 1E 780, where they went to war with a tribe of giant goblins to make way for those to come after. Frandar died early in the conflict, with Divad taking over the charge. The ansei who followed him remembered him as a HoonDing like Diagna before him.

The ansei who remained turned on one-another. The largest army in Yokudan history had been defeated, and their leader had abandoned them. Some believed that all ansei should follow, while others demanded the power they had earned through blood and hardship. During the civil war, a cell that had formed as part of the Hiradirge, masters of stone-magic, attacked the Orichalc Tower built by the Sinestral Elves millennia ago and made it their fortress. The Tower was believed to have the power to bring the spirit of Sep upon man. The other warring ansei set aside their conflict to stop them. But, as they laid siege to the Tower, a lone ansei, whose motives and loyalties are unknown, performed a forbidden technique with their shehai upon the tower's Stone, and as a result the continent began to sink below the ocean.
Millions died in the flooding, including most of the ansei at the tower as it collapsed. Refugees gathered at the highlands as they became islands in the raging ocean. There were too many survivors to be sustained after the calamity, and three subsequent Ra-Gada were organized to follow Hunding to Tamriel, carrying Totambu nobility in tow. The civilians were left at the island of Herne, while the warriors traveled on to the mainland, to joined Divad's conquests, only rejoining them as territory was safely conquered.

The Factions

Today, Redguard society is split along cultural lines between two primary factions.

Forebears

The Ra Gada, or "warrior waves" were sent ahead to make way for the nobility, clearing the province of desert orcs, goblins, and breton settlements. These warriors became the Forebears, the faction of Redguard society known for their adaptability to new ways and new religion, while still keeping alive the Yokudan warrior traditions. While the secrets of the ansei are lost to time, mastery of martial combat, swordsmanship, sailing, wayfinding, and a strong code of personal and familial honor are enforced from a young age. They tend to worship a mix of Yokudan and Imperial gods, but see the Imperial ones as merely the names their traditional gods take in this new land.

Crowns

Descendants of the Yokudan nobility, as well as the majority of civilian refugees, who both came to the mainland decades later, are the Crowns. This faction is adamant in keeping Yokudan tradition alive. Astronomy, magic, and religion are the primary concern of the Crowns, and they have little patience for traitors who would turn their backs on their history or their gods. They worship the traditional pantheon, unchanged from the old days.

Silverhoof

The Ra-Gada were not the first Yokudans to arrive on Tamriel. At least one migration, at least two-hundred years earlier, fled religious persecution in the early First Era. These were nomadic followers of the Herd Mother, a maternal goddess associated strongly with horses. These nomads spread through the region of Silverhoof Vale in the north-western tip of High Rock. They build elaborate homes in the cliff-side caves of the region, where they can better defend themselves from Harpies. Their pastoral lifestyle and uniquely powerful healing poultices have made them valuable trading partners of the Bretons.

The Redguard

Since the middle First Era, descendants of the Ra-Gada have become a powerful force in Tamriel. Now called Redguards, this new culture has had a lasting impact on the continent. While their resistance to assimilation have made it difficult for the Reman and Septim Empires' colonial ambitions, they can often be seen as scouts or naval officers in the Imperial Legion. They have produced storied heroes like Gaiden Shinji, who played a role in the fall of the first Orsinium, or Sai Sahan, a member of the Blades who was pivotal in stopping the Daedric Prince Molag Bal from merging Tamriel with his own plane of Coldharbor.
Most famous is Cyrus the Restless, who slew Tiber Septim's dragon-servant Nafaalilargus, bargained for his sister's soul from the daedric prince Clavicus Vile, and led a rebellion against the draconian Imperial Governor wielding a sword infused with the soul of the late Prince A'tor. The rebellion of the Restless League did not throw off Imperial control of Hammerfell, but it did bring Emperor Tiber Septim back to the negotiating table. Thanks to the fierce negotiating skills of Cyrus' sister Iszara, the League earned the province a level of independence shared only with Morrowind. Redguards commonly believe either A'tor, Cyrus, or both were an incarnation of the HoonDing, although some note that Iszara was the driving force in those events.
In the northern kingdoms, along the coast of the Iliac Bay, local dukes and monarchs could not help but be sucked into the culture of Breton nobility, fighting battles, both public and secret, surrounding petty conflicts of court intrigue. One such conflict culminated in the Warp in the West. Tiber Septim's colossus, the Numidium, had been reassembled over the centuries in secret by the Blades. A Breton nobleman discovered the key to controlling the Brass God, and in one timeline, it fell into the hands of King Camaron of Sentinel. When the machine was activated, time fractured and reformed, resulting in three days of impossible chaos, of which there are no two agreeing accounts. When the dust settled, the machine was gone, and the 44 kingdoms of the Iliac Bay had consolidated into four: Daggerfall, Wayrest, Orsinium, and Sentinel, and all four had sworn their fealty to the Emperor.

Rise of the Lhotunics

With Sentinel in a position of unique power in Hammerfell, the balance of power in the province was poised for change. When plague took the king and queen, a young and eccentric Prince Lhotun took the crown. He formed a new faction to challenge the dichotemy of the Crowns and the Forbears. These Lhotunics, as they came to be called, take the extremes of both factions. Lhotunics combine Forbear martial tradition, Crown magic and architecture, and zealous devotion to Imperial gods seen through a syncretic lens. Thanks to Sentinel's expansion during the Warp in the West, Lhotunics have been spreading their new faith across most of northern Hammerfell by conquest.

The Fourth Era

When a daedric cult assassinated the Emperor in 3E 433, they were able to open portals to Oblivion, from which armies of the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon could come to slaughter and destroy everything in their path. Like most off Tamriel, Hammerfell was devastated by the Oblivion Crisis, save the city of Totambu. The city had declared independence after a Crown revolution overthrew the previous Forebear regime. The Lhotunics surround the kingdom on all sides, but under the leadership of the Prophet Ayaan-si of Elinhir, it has stood resilient. The prophet is a mage and a scholar who has discovered secrets to advanced magic and technology, lost to time, and has used it to fortify his city-state against threats from this and every plane. In the last decade since the Crisis, Totambu has thrived while the greater Kingdom of Sentinel licks its wounds. Lhotun died in the crisis with no heirs, but his holy order of The Faithful run the kingdom in his stead, and have recently begun preparing for a second siege on the heretic city.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

Aubk-i, Akorithi, Arlimahera, Azadiyeh, Cegila, Charvek-si, Corda, Dh'emka, Ehtelar, Fereshtah, Haballa, Hafseta, Julia, Junko, Kati, Makela, Memyireh, Patia, Perizada, Rija, Rina, Sadallah, Silvanda, Tomi, Whitka, Yaeli, Yumia, Zaharia, Zell

Masculine names

Aaban, Abdul-Mujib, Afa-Saryat, Afshuur, Akamon, Arthago, Cirroc, Derik, Destri, Froedwig, Hakmir, Hallin, Hoennig, Hubalajad, Jiro, Kalam, Kano, Mamireh, Oelander, Orahan, Ra Boshek, Rahad, Ra Hasa, Ra Huzar, Rajmahar, Rok'dun, Roshadon, Sameq, Shoji, Thassad, Volag, Weltan, Yaghoub, Yakumo, Yasuke, Zakhin

Family names

Only a few prominent Crown families maintain old Yokudan family names. While Forbears are especially known for traveling abroad and marrying into other cultures, the majority of Redguards of both sects have mononyms, or will amend their name with the name of an important relative or hometown, with a different prefix denoting the relation.

• at- "Descendent of"
• af- "Relative of"
• al- "From"
• aj- "Named by" - often used in the case of adoption

Yokudan Surnames

Yokuda was a continent with many overlapping cultures. Many family histories were lost in the chaotic period for the refugees on Herne. While the nobility remained, their servants and civilians spent that chaotic period forming a new cultural identity, united in the idea that they were all of Yokuda. This is the reason so few family names are maintained. Some surviving examples include:
Ababneh, Berri, Hallin, Huerc, Hunding, Kirin, Komainu, Leki, Melarg, Morel, Nasir, Ogami, Rajida, Sesnit, Shinji, Stictal, Torn, Tu'wha, Zizzeen

Culture

Funerary and Memorial customs

Redguards carry a deep and profound veneration for the dead. It is taboo to strike or harm a body, making it especially difficult for more superstitious communities to challenge necromancers once established in a region. 

• Throne Keepers are priests of Tu'whacca in charge of protecting the elaborate necropolises constructed across Hammerfell. They preserve the dead as mummies, and consecrate them against necromancy. Those of all walks of life are entombed together, as one's station is irrelevant in the Far Shores.
• Desecrated Burial Grounds are also scattered throughout Hammerfell. These are tombs of honorless criminals. Their bodies go unpreserved, and while they are treated against necromancy, Soul Gems are placed in their mouths to weigh their spirits down so they cannot travel far from their body in the Veil. No matter how hard, or for how long they fight, the spirits of their enemies, or the Void-Serpent Sep will eventually get them.  If a person is exonerated after death, their body is exhumed, and a Throne Keeper will test the soul gem to ensure they haven't yet been taken. The body and soul-gem are cremated to free the soul from its bindings. The ashes are finally blessed and interred in the necropolis among the honored dead. 
• The Ansei Wards are three sacred swords, enchanted by the sacrificed souls of Ansei warriors during the Ra Gada. These swords collectively cleans the vast Alik'r Desert of necromantic taint, rendering it impossible to raise the dead within its sands, or for the undead to cross its threshold. 
• Memory Stones are ancient Yoku relics. The Yokudans used them to record the memories of important family members on their deathbed. Warriors typically wore them into battle, so that those who come after may learn from their deaths, and to ensure they did not succumb to cowardice on the battlefield. When the Warrior Waves reached Tamriel, memory stones quickly passed into circulation throughout the land. Their contents cannot be over-written, and they can only be used by the first person to wield them. Since the secret to manufacturing these stones sank with the continent, unused stones have become exceedingly rare, and most were destroyed in the late First Era by the Alessian Order, who saw them as blasphemous. 
• Silverhoof Horsemen preserve their dead in secret tombs hidden in caves throughout the eponymous Silverhoof Vale. Bodies are buried in sarcophagi, alongside their favorite possessions in life. When the horses a Silverhoof is closest to dies, they are preserved and interred in the same tomb. They believe that humans and beasts who are bonded in life share the same soul, and that they cannot move on to the Silver Steppes until their whole self is reunited. 

The Far Shores

Yokudan tradition teaches that the whole of creation exists on the back of the serpant-god Satakal, who eats His tail eternally. Eventually, Satakal reaches His own heart and dies. Then, driven by His eternal hunger, He will shed His skin and begin anew. The spirits who live on His back once accepted being eaten, but were taught by the god Ruptga how to move at strange angles to persist beyond one lifetime. This method became known as the Walkabout. In time, the Walkabout became so easy, it became a place. The Far Shores.
Guiding the spirits was a tiring, constant affair, so Ruptga gathered fragments of Satak's past skins and formed Sep to assist Him. But Sep was possessed by the same all-consuming hunger as the World-Serpent, and sought a shortcut. Sep convinced a number of the spirits to gather the old world-skins and form it into a ball on which they could simply live instead. Those foolish spirits found themselves trapped on a dead world, where they became mortals, with the same hunger that drove Sep mad corrupting and leading them astray. For this mistake, Ruptga, the Tall Papa, squashed Sep and banished Him to live out eternity as a slithering void among the stars.
Redguards believe that Nirn is the false-world created by Sep, and that achieving the walkabout is more difficult for them than the immortal spirits because they are pulled down by Sep's hunger. The gods have reached up to the mortal realm to teach them how to strengthen their souls in life so that they might survive the journey to the Far Shores. Tu'whacca, once the God of Nobody-Really-Cares found purpose as the God of Death, guiding and protecting the souls of mortals to the Walking-Place. Just getting to the Far Shores from the Veil is a deadly challenge. Souls are confronted by the spirits of their enemies, as well as cosmic forces such as the Daedra, seeking to stop them from entering the Far Shores. Thankfully, Tu'whacca is strong and clever, and makes sure His charges are assisted on the journey. The greatest challenge comes from Sep, who lays temptations across the path to draw souls away from Tu'whacca. A soul too consumed by the Hunger of the mortal world will surrender to these temptations, and find themselves led into the void, where the Void-Snake can eat them.
Those mortals who do not succumb to the challenges of the journey will find their way to the company of their ancestors in the Far Shores, where they are not out of danger yet. As mortals, they cannot complete the walkabout. Together, they must learn to sharpen their souls back to godhood, so they can make it to the next world-skin before Satakal consumes them.

Redguard Traits

Your human character has the following traits:

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Skills

• Light Arms
• Survival
• Crafting

Drawback

• Necromancy

Venom Blood

 Always roll with advantage against poison. (Passive)

Character Details

Humans range from 3’ to over 6’ in height. Humans come of age around 18-20 years old and can live up to 100 years.
Redguards have skin tones ranging from light brown to nearly black and have dark curly hair of many textures.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Cyrodilic and Modern Yoku, a refined, codified, and streamlined adaptation of the ancient language with many loan words from several Tamrielic languages. Yoku infamously has two new alphabets which supplement traditional Yoku glyphs in writing. Whereas Old Yoku had 48 different words for "honor" Modern Yoku only has 12.

Culture

Yokuda was once a vast empire that dwarfed Tamriel. It was dominated by a feudal society with a figurehead emperor and a system of warring states ruled by a warrior caste. When it sank beneath the sea, its many peoples came to Tamriel to start again. They brought a fierce martial tradition, focused on discipline and swordplay, as well as unique architecture and art. As many cultures were forced to consolidate in this new world, they now broadly fall under two sects:

• Forebears are descendants of the original Warrior Waves who conquered Hammerfell ahead of the civilians and nobility. They most closely observe their martial roots. However, in those early years in an unexplored territory, they had to adapt to the new world more than the others, accepting Tamrielic gods and traditions into their own.

• Crowns are descended from the surviving Yokudan nobility and their vassals and serfs. They devoutly preserve the spiritual and artistic traditions of Yokuda. Crowns worship the Yokudan pantheon and resent any Redguard who would bow to foreign gods. They also brought Yokudan architecture, spices, traditions of astronomy, sailing, and magic. Although much of this knowledge was still lost in the cataclysm.

Redguards are deeply spiritual and respect death above all else. They avoid any contact with the dead as a taboo, to the point that necromancers can become very dangerous to smaller communities as their actions often go unchallenged for years to avoid fighting the undead. 

The Book of Circles

Every Redguard household has a dedicated alcove to this treatise on proper swordsmanship Frandar Hunding who led your people to this new land. Adventurers likely carry with them an abridged pocket version with annotations by Hallin, the last known Ansei in the late First Era. Equal parts combat manual and guide to enlightenment through the Way of the Sword, the Book of Circles is a source of comfort and guidance to any honorable Redguard.

Hammerfell

Numerous petty kingdoms have organized themselves along the northern Iliac Bay region, but were dominated by the kingdom of Sentinel in the late Third Era. 
The vast Alik'r Desert hides hidden tribes and secrets that are even a mystery to the Crowns and the Forbears. 
Bisecting the north are the Dragontail Mountains which give way to deep canyons and craggy peaks along the eastern boarder with Skyrim. 
The south is largely dry grassland and savannah where farming and game hunting provide food for the province.
Despite the deep resentment and conflict between the two factions, Hammerfell stands united against oppression by elf or man. All matters pertinent to the province as a whole are organized at the neutral kingdom of Stros M'Kai and administered by its royal family, still descended from the old Yokudan dynasty.

Parent ethnicities

• Yokudan

Languages spoken

• Cyrodiilic

Related Locations

• Hammerfell

Crown

You are a descendent of the nobility and their servants who fled the cataclysm of Yokuda. Your ancestors arrived decades later, and had to make fewer compromises of your traditions to survive in this new land, and have made it the duty of your lineage to preserve the old ways. This in no way precludes you from pursuing the Way of the Sword. Cyrus the Restless led a rebellion of Crown warriors against the nascent Septim Empire, allowing Hammerfell to maintain its independence.

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Ritual Training

You gain +2 to your Wisdom and one other Ability Score. This ability replaces the standard Ability Score Increase for Redguards.

Keepers of Tradition

In addition to the standard Languages of the Redguard, you can also speak, read, and write Old Yoku, which is still spoken by Yokudan traders from the vestigial islands out west.

Forebear

You descended from the "Warrior Wave" which gave your people their Tamrielic name. Your caste conquered Hammerfell to make-way for the rest, but met fierce resistance in unfamiliar territory. You had to adapt to new ways of thinking, trading, and praying to establish a homeland. Despite all the compromise, your martial traditions are alive in you. Gaiden Shinji, considered one of the greatest warriors to ever walk Tamriel, was a Forebear.

Martial Training

You gain +2 to your Constitution and one other Ability Score. This ability replaces the standard Ability Score Increase for Redguards.

Adrenaline Rush

You were raised with some of the techniques of the Ansei, and can tap into hidden wells of stamina through sheer willpower. Once per long rest, you may repeat a single class-specific action that can only be done once per long or short rest.

Silverhoof

Your ancestors arrived centuries before the name "Redguard" passed anyone's lips. They survived goblins, orcs, nords, and bretons, and came to settle the cavernous coast of upper Craglorn, all for the dream to worship as they pleased.

Child of the Herd Mother

You have proficiency in horseback riding, and the Animal Handling skill. This replaces The Book of Circles Trait.

Secret of Akos Kasaz

Once per day, you can spend up to four hours searching the wilderness for a secret assortment of herbs and fungi, overlooked by Tamrielic alchemists. Roll a Survival Check with a DC determined by your GM, to create an Akos Satchel. With a mortar and pestle, ten minutes' time, and a little water, the contents of an Akos Satchel can be mixed into an Akos Poultice, which can be applied topically to heal up to 4d4 HP. An Akos Poultice loses its potency after three days, whereas an Akos Satchel will keep for up to a month. This ability replaces the Venom Blood Trait.

Bretonized Language

While you have retained some words and phrases from Old Yoku, and still have a regional accent borrowed from your ancestral highlands region of Akos Kasaz, there was very little need to maintain the language of your ancestors when surrounded by new peoples.
You can speak, read, and write Cyrodilic, and one of the following languages: Centaurian, Daedric, Dragonish (the language dragonlings) Giantish, Harpy, Impish, Nymph, Orcish, or Spriggan. This ability replaces the standard Languages Trait for Redguards.