Human [Birthright]

Most of the general human types in the Human entry can be found on this continent, and its natives may turn up almost anywhere if gates between worlds or starships are common. What follows sketches its five main peoples.

From the southwest, the heartlanders were once fair and red-haired, but centuries of mixing have made blond, brown and black hair just as common. Their semifeudal society rests on free farmers and craftsmen under titled nobles, whom they respect and expect to shield them from the barbarians ringing the old imperial heartland's successor states. Commoners follow their lords' alliances and intrigues with endless interest.

They distrust wizards, though one in a noble's service is accepted. Bards are honored heralds and lore-keepers, and country lore is full of robber barons and famous outlaws. Petty feuds keep the old empire from rising again, but their mounted knights, supported by court wizards and soldiers on foot, are formidable. In a usual army, knights account for 25-40%, paid infantry for 30-50% (chiefly spearmen and pikemen, as many as half of them longbowmen), and levied peasants for 25-40%; paladins and rangers are present in small numbers.

Short, stocky and dark of hair, the folk of the north-center once lived under imperial governors, during which their nobility withered. After the empire fell, guilds and merchants took charge; today's nobles are weak, several states are republics, and many guildlanders are sea traders.

Magic is suspect and usually channeled into scholarly pursuits like alchemy or mechanical invention. Bards are tolerated as pleasant but frivolous idlers and a poor model for youth. Wealth is the center of life, and their fierce independence and self-reliance mean they solve their own problems rather than wait on rulers; a commoner's first loyalty goes to guild or company. Practical and conservative, they would rather bargain than fight, weigh costs before acting, avoid reckless generosity or gambles, and are slow to adopt foreign ways.

A typical force is 10-20% knights, 40-50% professional pikemen or crossbowmen and 20-30% militia. Leaders and front-rank pikes wear the heaviest armor, and their infantry are steadier than the heartlanders'. Paladins are rare and rangers rarer. Massed pikes are their strength, though light raiders may come ashore to harass an enemy's coastal towns and farms.

Tall and lean, with hawkish features, dark eyes and skin from light coffee to deep brown, the people of the sunlit southern realms speak their own tongue. Men wear loose linen or silk breeches, a broad bright sash, a close-fitting shirt with a tall collar and sleeves reaching partway down the arm, often a colorful vest and, if rich, ornate shoes; women dress similarly but modestly keep limbs covered down to wrist and ankle. Appearing in public bareheaded, without cap, scarf, turban or veil, is improper for anyone.

Alone among the continent's humans, they do not fear magic; its study is the noblest calling, though necromancy of any kind, raising the dead or speaking to them, is forbidden. Bards are seen as shifty, poor vagabonds, but professional storytellers are esteemed. City governments hunt thieves' guilds, though some thrive, and a long tradition of secret cults and assassin guilds horrifies most citizens.

Commoners trade like guildlanders, but decorum, hospitality and lavish entertaining count for more than money. Piety, courtesy and eloquence mark good breeding, and their arguments are masterpieces of hint and suggestion. They borrow useful foreign customs freely while keeping their own core culture. Everyday talk is sprinkled with small prayers and blessings, while swearing by a god's name is shockingly crude. There is no slavery, and talent plus luck can raise anyone without limit. Their subtle, diplomatic rulers hold titles like khan, sultan, satrap and emir.

Noble warriors ride medium horses in mail, armed with javelins, lance, and saber or scimitar. Professional soldiers wear chain and carry scimitars; militia go unarmored with bows, clubs, daggers and spears; herders and sailors wear leather and carry dagger, sling, short sword or cutlass. Their armies field medium horse at 30%, light horse at 20-30%, and 40-50% split among archers, spear levies and irregulars such as marines or hill tribesmen. Paladins appear as often as among the heartlanders, and rangers come from hills and deserts rather than forests.

Tall, broad-shouldered and fair, with blond or red hair worn long and braided, the clanfolk dwell in northwestern forests and highlands. They are stubborn individualists who pledge loyalty only to kin; family is everything. Jarls govern in name, yet the druids truly rule, revered as teachers, leaders and counselors, and most clanfolk worship a druidic forest god. They love the wild and take care never to over-hunt or clear virgin forest.

Wizards and foreign priests may get rough treatment or crude pranks if they give cause, but bards, called skalds, keep history and lore and are welcome at all but the meanest hearths. In war, the chieftain's elite make up 20-25%, close-order veterans 25-40%, lightly armed irregulars 25-30%, and light bowmen as much as a quarter. Commanders and their bodyguards have the finest armor, mostly chain mail, and love the war axe. Berserkers appear here and there; rangers and paladins do not.

These barbarians of the frigid northeastern mountains and forests are tall and heavy-boned, with flat faces, pale eyes and sallow skin. Warriors like shaved heads and long drooping mustaches, and all wear rough quilted clothing and thick furs. A strict code of honor demands blood even for accidental insults. Warlords called tsarevos lead, guided by priests of grim, bloody gods who urge constant war against rivals and the orogs and other humanoids who contest their lands. Nearly every man is a hunter and warrior, since other work is thought unmanly; custom restricts women heavily, though a few have become warriors or warladies.

Magic belongs to the nobility and frightens commoners, but no noble wastes a peasant whose magic could hurt his enemies. They know no mercy but do know compassion: foes are hunted down pitilessly, yet a real friend is cherished.

Their armies are a quarter lizard riders, swift over snow, half close-order infantry, and otherwise archers and light irregulars. With paladins and rangers almost unknown and casters scarce, their commanders become masters of trickery and treachery. They endure hunger, cold and lack of shelter or gear with stoic toughness and march with astonishing discipline, often outpacing horsemen; several encamped hosts have vanished overnight without alerting watchful enemy scouts.