Tuniit [Race][Vespuccia]

[Admiral Squish]

Tuniit (singular tuniq)
Designed for Vespuccia.


“Terrifying men, so large they break the backs of bears.” -Pierre Lareux, french scout.


Personality: Tuniit are generally friendly, and, despite their size and strength, often end up being somewhat cautious, knowing a wrong move or a missed step can break things around them. In places where tuniit are rare, they more often end up being shy, while in places where they are a more common sight they are more open and extroverted.
Physical Description: Tuniit are huge, muscular figures, with broad shoulders and powerful limbs. They vary in size from nearly eight feet tall, to a bit more than nine. There aren’t many traits that are universal to all tuniit, beyond their size, but the original group of tuniit were known to have more facial hair than other Inuit, taller foreheads, and thicker brows. Tuniit are giant-blooded, a trait born from interbreeding between the tuniit and the Inupasugjuk, who would often capture hunters and other strong men to toy with, before releasing them. Often the resulting child was left with the father the following winter.
Relations: Tuniit were, at first, an anomaly, freaks. But over time they became more and more common. Their size and strength soon became regarded as desirable traits, and over time, they came to outnumber the normal-sized folk on the bay. Now, they are born in families all across the north lands, more in some places than others. Nearly one in five children born is tuniit these days. Generally speaking, the tuniit envy the delicate hands of their human kin, and the humans envy the size and strength of the tuniit.
Alignment: Tuniit have as widely-varied morals as their human parents.
Tuniit Lands: Tuniitaq is the name for the land the tuniit first inhabited. The name tuniit is now shared by the people who originally lived on the shores of the great bay, as well as the giants that are now spread across the north.
Religion: Tuniit have a strong, supernatural connection to cold and winter, and as such, often worship gods associated with cold or winter. Otherwise, they usually follow the example set by their parents.
Language: Most tuniit speak tuniit, a language that’s comparatively simple, when held up to the language of the other inuit groups. Some tuniit never learn the language, being born in distant lands where tuniit are few and far between. They were the first language to adopt the Viking runic system of writing, though it has since spread through the polar regions.
Names: Tuniit are named in the same fasion as their parents in most places. In their ancestral homes, names are based in tuniit.
Adventurers: Tuniit adventurers are relatively common. Some, in more remote areas, become adventurers to escape the feeling of not belonging among normal-sized people. Some become adventurers in search of honor, or in search of a deeper understanding of magic and their inherent connection to cold. Others head north, looking to seek out the progenitors of their line.

• +4 strength, +2 constitution, -2 dexterity Tuniit are extremely strong and hardy, but their bulk sometimes gets in the way.
• Type: Tuniit are Humanoids with the Giant subtype
• Large Size: Tuniit are large creatures. They take a –1 size penalty to their AC, a –1 size penalty on attack rolls, a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a –4 size penalty on Stealth checks. Tuniit take up a space that is 10 feet by 10 feet and have a reach of 10 feet.
• Normal Speed: Tuniit have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Cold Resistance: Tuniit are perfectly at home in freezing environments, and they suffer no harm from being in a cold environment. The tuniq’s equipment is likewise protected. Against attacks that cause cold damage, a tuniq possesses resistance to cold 5.
• Skilled: Tuniit's human parentage gives them an additional skill rank at 1st level and one additional skill rank whenever they gain a level.

[Admiral Squish]

So, the Tuniit are finally finished enough to present to the world. Originally, I was just going to have them have powerful build and nothing much else, but in editing the wording, I realized that I was essentially wiping out all the negative effects of large size and keeping the good parts. And, after double-checking the RP costs of large size, I figured I might as well go all-out and make it large.

[SuperDave]

I like their build so far, and I support the decision to make them fully Large, instead of having Powerful Build. It will make them challenging to play, I think, but it helps set them apart from their peers in a very concrete way. Really contributes to their feeling of awkward isolation and otherness.

I’m not sure about the penalty to Dex, though. I mean, it makes sense, and there aren’t many Large creatures with a bonus to that ability, but the Dorset Culture (upon which the Tuniit are at least nominally based) were famous for their tiny and intricate carvings in ivory and bone. I suppose that since the Tuniit aren’t really the same thing as the Dorset (they’re Dorsets crossed with Inupasugjuk), that they might lose their ancestral Dex bonus after a few generation of interbreeding with the polar giants. Or that same Dex bonus might count for less when you’ve got hands the size of manhole covers.
Which brings up a related point: are the humans they live with more culturally similar to the Dorset, or to the Thule? I suppose it’s not a big question, just one I’m curious about.

You mention that a Tuniiq can turn off the “Frost Touch” effect as a free action, but does that refer to the constant aura of cold, or just the more extreme (damaging) form, or both? I guess what I’m asking is whether the Tuniit can consciously stop making the area around them cold, or whether it’s inherent in their bodies.

Out of curiosity: Does their skin feel cold to the touch, or is it the same temperature as a normal human’s?

(Possible Story Hook: an enterprising Tuniiq could make himself into Vespuccia’s first millionaire by moving to Aztlan.)

[SuperDave]

What, no image for the Tuniit? Even the Hotowa'e got their own portrait! (Edit: looks like you never actually added that portrait to their official thread, though...)

If I might make a few suggestions:

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[SuperDave]

Do the Tuniit have a favored class? I would think that their brawn and endurance would make them lean towards Fighter or Barbarian, but I suppose I could see them being like humans and having greater freedom to multiclass than most other races.

[Admiral Squish]

Well, firstly, thanks for commenting, I get a little paranoid about the balance when nobody comments.

I'm glad you like that I made them large. I have some evidence for the decision, there was an old newspaper clipping I found that mentioned dorset visiting a canadian settlement that described them as 'eight or nine feet tall'.

Well, the penalty to dex doesn't actually affect your ability to craft, in game terms. The penalty is actually inherent to large size, so to cancel it out would mean the tuniit are actually more dextrous than an average person.
I sorta envision it as wanting what you can't have. The humans envy the strength and size of tuniit, the tuniit envy the detail and precision of smaller human hands.
The dorset culture still exists in the eastern parts of the canadian wilderness, but the thule have integrated into it somewhat, bringing their own cultural traditions. But east of that, there are tuniit born into other cultures, though their parents sometimes bring dorset traditions with them.

They can turn off the damage, but not the cold. The cool air only extends out a few inches from their skin, it might build up in a room over time. Their skin's cool to the touch, but not freezing.

Nice collection of pictures! I couldn't find many good images, honestly. I like that first one and the third one, mostly.

I knew I forgot something! The favored class... Probably hunter. Which reminds, I really need to rework that...
Edit; Nevermind, favored class isn't included in PF race breakdowns, apparently.

[SuperDave]

Like I said the other day, I'm not really sure about the Tuniit having cold powers. For one thing, being cold makes them highly undesirable as mates; for another, it makes them highly undesirable at indoor gatherings of every kind, where everyone's huddling together for warmth. The guy who sucks all the heat out of the room is not going to be a welcome guest. Plus, most of the animals and monsters in the Arctic are going to be immune to cold, or at least (out of necessity) have strong defenses against it.

I propose that instead, the Tuniit be simply immune to the effects of weather. Perhaps they even have hotter bodies than normal, enabling them to stave off frostbite and other perils of the frozen north. This could be represented mechanically as Cold Resistance 2 or 3 (probably not a full 5), or by giving them bonuses to Fort saves against frostbite and hypothermia. If we still feel that the loss of the "Frost Touch" ability is too great, maybe it could be replaced with something else:

Ice Walking (Ex): A Tuniiq always treats ice as if it were firm ground, no matter their footwear or lack thereof, and need not make any Balance or Tumble checks while walking on ice.

Additionally, how do we feel about giving the Tuniit a few extra skill points, to represent the human side of their heritage?

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I realize that reworking the Tuniit in this way will mean that we'll have to completely rethink the Inupasugjuk, too. Maybe instead of being frost giants, they're more like fire giants? They could have burning-hot bodies, to protect themselves against the bitter cold of the polar region, and could pass this trait on to their offspring. Having the size, constitution, and body-heat of the Inupasugjuk would make one a very desirable mate indeed.

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By the way: if the giantism trait is recessive, does this mean it's possible for a Tuniiq and a regular human to be born of the same parents? One brother being a giant, and the other being normal-sized? And what would that do to your family dynamics?

[Admiral Squish]

I did mention all this in the main vespuccia thread, I just hadn't gotten around to fiddling with this thread just yet.

Like I said the other day, I'm not really sure about the Tuniit having cold powers. For one thing, being cold makes them highly undesirable as mates; for another, it makes them highly undesirable at indoor gatherings of every kind, where everyone's huddling together for warmth. The guy who sucks all the heat out of the room is not going to be a welcome guest. Plus, most of the animals and monsters in the Arctic are going to be immune to cold, or at least (out of necessity) have strong defenses against it.

I propose that instead, the Tuniit be simply immune to the effects of weather. Perhaps they even have hotter bodies than normal, enabling them to stave off frostbite and other perils of the frozen north. This could be represented mechanically as Cold Resistance 2 or 3 (probably not a full 5), or by giving them bonuses to Fort saves against frostbite and hypothermia. If we still feel that the loss of the "Frost Touch" ability is too great, maybe it could be replaced with something else.

Additionally, how do we feel about giving the Tuniit a few extra skill points, to represent the human side of their heritage?

And I do definitely agree, the points are all valid and we really need to fix them. I've already removed the frost touch ability and I'm still warring over what exactly it should be replaced with. I DO think they need something interesting, though.
Ice walking might work, but I'm not sure if it really fits in with the rest of the abilities.
Extra skill points might work, but it seems kinda boring, ya know?

I'm not quite sure about them being hotter than a normal human, actually. On the surface, that seems like it would be a bonus, but if you have a fever, everything feels cold. So the usual weather would feel colder to them. I mean, we could just say 'magic' but that seems like a cop-out.

I realize that reworking the Tuniit in this way will mean that we'll have to completely rethink the Inupasugjuk, too. Maybe instead of being frost giants, they're more like fire giants? They could have burning-hot bodies, to protect themselves against the bitter cold of the polar region, and could pass this trait on to their offspring. Having the size, constitution, and body-heat of the Inupasugjuk would make one a very desirable mate indeed.

I dunno, if they're a whole race of super-hot giants, they would melt the polar caps. Keep in mind, these aren't just large-sized giants, these guys are MASSIVE, we're talking gargantuan, or even colossal size. They are forces of nature. I was gonna tie their increased presence into the ice age.

By the way: if the giantism trait is recessive, does this mean it's possible for a Tuniiq and a regular human to be born of the same parents? One brother being a giant, and the other being normal-sized? And what would that do to your family dynamics?

This is definitely possible. I could just see it, the 'little' brother being born as a tuniq, and quickly outgrowing his big brother.

[SuperDave]

I dunno, if they're a whole race of super-hot giants, they would melt the polar caps. Keep in mind, these aren't just large-sized giants, these guys are MASSIVE, we're talking gargantuan, or even colossal size. They are forces of nature.

How can I say this without the mods banning me?

If the Inupasugjuk are eight to sixteen times the size of a normal human, then how, pray tell, do they get around to creating Tuniit with their human playthings? I mean, how would that even work?

As much as I like the idea of colossal Eskimo frost-giants, if they're going to be interbreeding with humans to produce Tuniit, I don't think they can be quite that big. Huge, or Gargantuan at most.

I was gonna tie their increased presence into the ice age.

Even if they run a little hot, that doesn't mean that you can't tie their presence into the Ice Age, it'd just be reversed: the Ice Age was when Inupasugjuk dwindled to almost nothing, beneath the endless onslaught of <those epic-level ice titans whose name I can't remember right now, but I'm pretty sure they start with an X>.

[Pokonic]

How can I say this without the mods banning me?

If the Inupasugjuk are eight to sixteen times the size of a normal human, then how, pray tell, do they get around to creating Tuniit with their human playthings? I mean, how would that even work?

As much as I like the idea of colossal Eskimo frost-giants, if they're going to be interbreeding with humans to produce Tuniit, I don't think they can be quite that big. Huge, or Gargantuan at most.

Well,

Option 1: They shrink down to meet with prospective "mear mortals" who they find interesting, at least to a reasonable size.

Option 2: They make there prospective mates larger in preparation for...things.

Option 3: They are nearly spiritual creatures in a world with hags and fairies. If the cosmicly aligned snow giant want's to breed with that sassy young thing a few miles away, the laws of nature shut up and sit down.

[Admiral Squish]

Technically speaking, conception is possible without there being any actual... coupling, as they say. All the images I find suggest the giants being SUPER HUGE, like walking mountains. Godzilla-scale. Maybe the females are smaller? Or maybe there's two giant types, huge-sized ones in northern Canada, and colossal ones from the north pole.

Of course, we could always say it's just magic. Maybe there's no contact at all, the lady giant just takes an interest in a particular male, grabs him, and plays around for a while, and the child is spontaneously generated with the male's traits.

You're thinking of Xixecals. Not sure if we're gonna have them, honestly.

[SuperDave]

Maybe we don’t need to explain away the size difference (between humans and the Inupasugjuk) after all. I looked up Half-Giants (from Dark Sun), and the Wikipedia page says “The origins of the race are unclear. While it is known that the race is spawned from the union of human and giant and the nature of that union was certainly magical, its original purpose is unknown” [emphasis mine]. So even in the "official" D&D literature, they just kind of hand-wave the whole size issue. (Maybe the players will learn in the course of their adventure, the terrible secret of “where Tuniit come from”!)

So yeah, I guess they're fine the way they're written right now.

(On a related note, I like your idea for the males being of a different size category than the females. I'm not entirely sure why I like it, I just do.)

[Admiral Squish]

Okay, so, we don't need to discuss the exact nature of how the tuniit are bred.

But we DO still need to come up with an ability to fill the space left by the removal of the cold damage. I mean, they're playable as it is, but I still think they should have something more to them, beyond just being big and strong.

[SuperDave]

Looks like the Designed for Vespuccia link at the top of the page doesn't work anymore, since you changed the name of the setting.

It should say: Designed for Crossroads: The New World.

[SuperDave]

Question: if a Tuniit child is born to a human mother, do they come out human-sized, or Tuniit-sized? In the case of the former, do they grow to be Tuniit-size within the first year or so, or does the growth kick in at puberty?

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Hm, I just had an unpleasant thought: In our setting, the Tuniit adopt Norse ironworking, right? Well, working iron requires digging mines. Which are difficult for Large creatures to move around in, and expensive to expand/enlarge. It would be much simpler for the Tuniit to just enslave nearby tribes and force them to dig the mines instead. It seems like kind of a jerk move on the part of the Tuniit, but nobody ever said they were supposed to be the good guys here. Empires do terrible things all the time to keep their bellies and markets full.

I guess it really hinges on how much of a true "state" we want the Tuniit to be. If they're still a loose confederation of tribes in 1750 A.D., then they probably won't practice slaving on a large scale. But if they've got a centralized government, then they'd pretty much have to do it in order to maintain the status quo and generate enough food and/or trade-goods to feed their constituency.

Wait a minute! Maybe this is where the Inuksuk could come in handy! Maybe they were created (or repurposed) to serve as miners for the Tuniit?

[Admiral Squish]

Alright, I shall fix the crossroads link.

As to tuniit babies. Honestly, I'm not certain. I think them coming out tuniit-sized could be a bit of an insurmountable challenge for the mom. So, it would probably be best to have them come out the size of regular babies then continue the accelerated growth rate of early life until the reach the appropriate size. This could mean the first sign your child's a tuniq would likely be a titanic appetite.

Large-scale mining requires significant food surplus, the sort of thing that can only be accomplished via large-scale agriculture, which was largely unknown in the land before the arrival of colonists. The tuniit likely wouldn't have major iron mines or production faculties, though they would likely have a few craftsmen who can smelt and forge iron, to repair or modify weapons and tools traded from Vinland. There might be a few small mines at surface deposits, but much of Tuniitaq is located over the Canadian shield, a broad, flat, extremely strong granite plate, which would make mining down very difficult.

Inuksuk could be used to supplement the workforce certainly, but most of the other issues would still apply. Plus, inuksuk are expensive. Still, it could be done. We could even have a situation where the human taskmasters died and the inuksuk are still mining, the ore just piling up somewhere. However, I don't think they would be created for mining, that would have to be a later adaptation of the magi-technology.