Folk of the river kingdom
Too far upriver folk
From the wilderness beyond the wall, barbarians. Behold with fear the death-rolled kingdom of the river serpent, where man mates with beast and beast with man. Infants are born with rugged scales, excised or hidden by any who hope to treat with devout Urukites.
Upriver folk
From the land of reeds in the shadow of the wall, an Urukite subculture. Dwell in stilt-houses in the flooded river shallows, kept placid by basin irrigation.
City folk
From Uruk itself, an Urukite subculture. Urbanites that dwell in the shadow of Lugal’s temple-palace.
Downriver folk
From the land of the river’s fork, an Urukite subculture. The greatest percentage of the river kingdom’s population.
Too far downriver folk
From the lands along the coast, all Urukite subcultures. Considered strange and cloistered by other Urukites. Roll 1d3 or choose:
- Forest folk. Those born under the boughs of the Anirayah. Can traverse her tangled roads and parse her woven speech. Unique among Urukites, serpents pause before striking you.
- Island folk. Those born upon Tjaret and its thousand daughters. Born with silvery scales and webs between their fingers, and unaffected by the weight of armor when swimming. Expert sailors.
- The Lu Tiket. Coastal nomads with no permanent homes. You can understand and be understood by the terrestrial animals of the desert, who treat you as one of their own.
Subterranean folk
The troglodytes of Erebos, an Urukite subculture. Dwell along the river’s trident with only the light the worms provide them. Shorter than the typical Urukite, on the whole.
- Your eyes glow in the darkness like a cat’s. So long as there is any light you can see as if it were day, though sans any color.
The Vesperides
Scattered daughters of Belet-Vespera, who emerged from the sea to become the first Grace. Strangely pale even after all this time—an unearthly, alluring beauty. Born of pearlescent eggs.
- Blue veins dance beneath your translucent skin, and Cancer has a particular hatred for you and your sisters. Unless you go about entirely covered, you suffer sunburn and fatigue when outdoors; soaking in salt water for a day and a night heals these ails.
- Your eyes are wide, watery, and pale. You are blinded in light any more intense than sunlight; even that is consistently uncomfortable. So long as your head is entirely submerged, you can see through salt water as if it were glass.
- You must display at least four masculine traits and at most two feminine traits to be considered anything but a woman.
Gravechildren
Spawned from an unholy coupling, no matter how holy the parents. Living infants born from the flesh of dead heroes.
- Your FATE cannot be divined, for good and for ill.
- Your blood runs in streaks; the red of the living and the black of the dead are like oil and water inside you. The living see you as dead and the dead see you as living.
- You are immune to both physical pain and pleasure, and can subsist for up to a season on solely blood.