Vendalic

The Vendals were a people who left Algoboa and partially settled in Talingarde, Perdita, and elsewhere, one of the largest ogre-dominated cultures in Uskara. They are a highly matriarchal warrior culture, where the women band together in sisterhoods (brigand bands, really) and go out seeking fame and fortune, not able to return home until they have claimed great treasure in gold, thralls, or magic. Men were property to be claimed by warrior-women, who kept hearth, home, and pursued crafts in the village. One of their fondest traditions that has spread is the potlatch, where a chieftess hosts a grand feast involving complicated rituals of gift-giving that are central to Vendal culture. The Vendal way of life has mostly faded away over the centuries, and most of the surviving Vendalic culture are the descendents of their old thralls. They are known for their red hair. Vendals value adventure, generosity and textiles. While missionary work by the Axiomatic Church among their number is making progress, many Vendals prefer to worship the pagan goddess Zoryan, whom many belief was a Vendal herself. They are a mix of Vikings, Salish Native Americans, and legends of Amazonians. In Talingarde, they colonized the Skysongs, Shelter Isles, and even have a few scattered tribes still in the depths of the Rough Bounds.

• Ancestry: Most surviving Vendals are quicklings, dwarves, and kobolds descended from thralls, but the largest ogre population in Talingarde is Vendalic.


• Starting Languages: Low Talirean, Vendalic


• Myrcian Weapons: bastard sword, francesca (hatchet), pale-axe (glaive), javelin, club. Vendalic warrior-women of course brought to Talingarde the bastard sword (named in folk etymology for King Roak, who was a Vendalic man who chafed under their matriarchal society), but throwing weapons such as the axe and javelin are commonly used in feats of strength and competition. The Vendalic pale-axe is also the precursor to many polearms, including the Gebroan halberd and Veylish glaive.