Omnicrat
2012-08-20, 07:50 AM
I'm not completely sure if this should go in the world building sub forum or not.
In a lot of D&D mythologies, Humans are a young race. Humans have ambition and drive beyond any others. Humans have the best and the worst amongst there number. Humans are the dominant race of the world. But how did they get that way? What makes humans so special?
Most reasons give for exactly why humans are the way they are, if any reasons are given at all, is usually noble in some way. There was a wronged god, trying to make a superior race. The first human was born of the earth its self, and was a being of unparalleled superiority. Humans were breed from the best traits of the other races.
But what if the origin of Humanity was nothing so noble? What if Humanity's start was as a scourge upon the land? A blight placed on the other races by the gods? And so, I came up with the Men of Hu.
A Brief Overview
Humans were created as a plague upon the earth. A punishment to those whom the Gods first gave life, and in turn abandoned their creators. The Human Plague was unleashed 1000 years or so ago, followed by a terrible dark age (now called the Dawn Age by Human society) lasting centuries as the Humans tore down the civilizations of the Elder Races. Ever since, Human society has been advancing, learning, and building.
The original humans, the Men of Hu, were little more than animals. They raped and pillaged every land, slowly adding the biology of the Elder Races unto their own. Near the end of the Dawn Age, what we no consider the True Humans emerged, along with a smattering of distinct halfbreed races.
Humans have not reached the level of power the Elder Races once possessed. Some fear reaching this level of advancement will cause the ire of the Gods to be raised again, bringing an end to Human society in a similar way that the Humans brought an end to the Elder Races society.
The Men of Hu Unleashed
Hu was know as the Valley of the Gods to the Elder Races, and was the most fertile and beautiful place on Earth (or whatever the Earth parallel is called). For centuries, it went untouched out of respect for the Gods, but near the end of the Elder Age, after the Elder Races had abandoned the Gods, they sought to colonize it. They Elder Races believed Hu could one day hold dozens of cities, all able to sustain themselves in Hu's lushness. To access Hu, one had to traverse a dangerous mountain path, that had been sealed by a great Bronze Gate for centuries. It took the power of 1000 men to open the gate, as no magic could affect it. After the gate was open, a small band of colonists entered, the first people to set foot in Hu for millenia. The Colononists were to be totally self-sufficient for the next 100* years as a test for future efforts, to see how little land was required to sustain their number. In this time, they would have no contact with the outside world as (for reasons never totally understood) magical communication into and out of Hu was impossible.
When no one emerged from the valley after 100 had passed, a second expedition was sent in to investigate. What they found was terrifying beyond belief. Below is an exert from a transcription in Gnomish of an Elvish journal that survived the Dawn age.
The best news that I have is that The Colony has failed. From the moment we entered Hu, it was clear that The Colony has been long since destroyed. While I cannot be certain what exact fate befell the colonists themselves, it would seem they were all wiped out by a terrible and disgusting race, the likes of which we have never seen. They had no discernible language, only communicating through animalistic howls and primitive gestures. Their tools were rudimentary and crude or hundred-year-old artifacts being misused more often than not. They have open wounds that seem infected, and they seem to simply defecate where they stand. Most disturbingly, they seem rape and kill one another without a second thought. But by far, the worst thing of all is their number. Our party saw one of their women giving birth, and no fewer than 7 infants were had within the course of an hour. There appear to be hundreds of thousands of them, perhaps even millions. They appear to have almost run out of space to live and food to eat. They have run out of space and food in Hu! We must re-seal the Bronze Gate, lest these men of Hu find the Valley Pass and kill us all.
According to the rest of the ancient Gnome text, all of that gained from only one night of observation, before a group of Hu Men discovered them, killing all but the journal's writer, who barely managed to escape ahead of the Hu Men hoard. With no one standing at the ready to close it, the Bronze Gate was left open, allowing the millions of Hu Men to pour out, laying waste to all in their path. So began the Dawn Age.
Hu Men Racial Traits.
-2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, 3 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma.
Medium size: As Medium creatures, Hu Men have no special modifiers due to their size.
Hu Man base land speed is 50 feet.
3 bonus skill points, 12 at first level (not subject to removal by intelligence penalty)
3 bonus feats
Languageless: The Hu Man mind is so primitive, it cannot learn or comprehend language. This casues Hu Men to be immune to language dependant spells and effects.
Class Restriction: Hu Men can only take classes with simple training
Favoured Class: None. A Hu Man mind is too primitive to take more than one class without experience penalty
Conclusion
I also have vital statistics, but can't seem to format them properly.
And that is all that I have so far. Please tell me what you think and give any suggestions as to how I might expand upon exactly what happened during the Dawn Age.
In a lot of D&D mythologies, Humans are a young race. Humans have ambition and drive beyond any others. Humans have the best and the worst amongst there number. Humans are the dominant race of the world. But how did they get that way? What makes humans so special?
Most reasons give for exactly why humans are the way they are, if any reasons are given at all, is usually noble in some way. There was a wronged god, trying to make a superior race. The first human was born of the earth its self, and was a being of unparalleled superiority. Humans were breed from the best traits of the other races.
But what if the origin of Humanity was nothing so noble? What if Humanity's start was as a scourge upon the land? A blight placed on the other races by the gods? And so, I came up with the Men of Hu.
A Brief Overview
Humans were created as a plague upon the earth. A punishment to those whom the Gods first gave life, and in turn abandoned their creators. The Human Plague was unleashed 1000 years or so ago, followed by a terrible dark age (now called the Dawn Age by Human society) lasting centuries as the Humans tore down the civilizations of the Elder Races. Ever since, Human society has been advancing, learning, and building.
The original humans, the Men of Hu, were little more than animals. They raped and pillaged every land, slowly adding the biology of the Elder Races unto their own. Near the end of the Dawn Age, what we no consider the True Humans emerged, along with a smattering of distinct halfbreed races.
Humans have not reached the level of power the Elder Races once possessed. Some fear reaching this level of advancement will cause the ire of the Gods to be raised again, bringing an end to Human society in a similar way that the Humans brought an end to the Elder Races society.
The Men of Hu Unleashed
Hu was know as the Valley of the Gods to the Elder Races, and was the most fertile and beautiful place on Earth (or whatever the Earth parallel is called). For centuries, it went untouched out of respect for the Gods, but near the end of the Elder Age, after the Elder Races had abandoned the Gods, they sought to colonize it. They Elder Races believed Hu could one day hold dozens of cities, all able to sustain themselves in Hu's lushness. To access Hu, one had to traverse a dangerous mountain path, that had been sealed by a great Bronze Gate for centuries. It took the power of 1000 men to open the gate, as no magic could affect it. After the gate was open, a small band of colonists entered, the first people to set foot in Hu for millenia. The Colononists were to be totally self-sufficient for the next 100* years as a test for future efforts, to see how little land was required to sustain their number. In this time, they would have no contact with the outside world as (for reasons never totally understood) magical communication into and out of Hu was impossible.
When no one emerged from the valley after 100 had passed, a second expedition was sent in to investigate. What they found was terrifying beyond belief. Below is an exert from a transcription in Gnomish of an Elvish journal that survived the Dawn age.
The best news that I have is that The Colony has failed. From the moment we entered Hu, it was clear that The Colony has been long since destroyed. While I cannot be certain what exact fate befell the colonists themselves, it would seem they were all wiped out by a terrible and disgusting race, the likes of which we have never seen. They had no discernible language, only communicating through animalistic howls and primitive gestures. Their tools were rudimentary and crude or hundred-year-old artifacts being misused more often than not. They have open wounds that seem infected, and they seem to simply defecate where they stand. Most disturbingly, they seem rape and kill one another without a second thought. But by far, the worst thing of all is their number. Our party saw one of their women giving birth, and no fewer than 7 infants were had within the course of an hour. There appear to be hundreds of thousands of them, perhaps even millions. They appear to have almost run out of space to live and food to eat. They have run out of space and food in Hu! We must re-seal the Bronze Gate, lest these men of Hu find the Valley Pass and kill us all.
According to the rest of the ancient Gnome text, all of that gained from only one night of observation, before a group of Hu Men discovered them, killing all but the journal's writer, who barely managed to escape ahead of the Hu Men hoard. With no one standing at the ready to close it, the Bronze Gate was left open, allowing the millions of Hu Men to pour out, laying waste to all in their path. So began the Dawn Age.
Hu Men Racial Traits.
-2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, 3 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma.
Medium size: As Medium creatures, Hu Men have no special modifiers due to their size.
Hu Man base land speed is 50 feet.
3 bonus skill points, 12 at first level (not subject to removal by intelligence penalty)
3 bonus feats
Languageless: The Hu Man mind is so primitive, it cannot learn or comprehend language. This casues Hu Men to be immune to language dependant spells and effects.
Class Restriction: Hu Men can only take classes with simple training
Favoured Class: None. A Hu Man mind is too primitive to take more than one class without experience penalty
Conclusion
I also have vital statistics, but can't seem to format them properly.
And that is all that I have so far. Please tell me what you think and give any suggestions as to how I might expand upon exactly what happened during the Dawn Age.