Clan Brightstone is a clan that is spread out across a large stretch of the Karaz Ankor in the form of a loose coalition of villages and settlements, protected by wandering bands of Rangers. They live like most surface-dwelling Gazani, standing out only in the way they cooperate with each other.
The Clan Thane has always led the largest group of the clan. Tradition dictated that on the passing of a thane, the Clan could decide to pack up and move elsewhere. This was often done, as by the time a thane passed, the local threats had begun to narrow down the location of the clan.
All Dawi need to make a living, and few clans, if any, are fully self-sufficient. So even a clan as self-reliant as yours, needed something with which to trade.
Where were you settled, and how did it affect you? Choose one.
[] Along the Silver Road:
Your clan inhabited one of the most populated parts remaining to the Karaz Ankor. The vales and valleys along the Silver Road, leading out of the Everpeak. Here your clan became the quintessential hill-clans that the people of the Everpeak so very much loved to denigrate. Nevertheless, you embraced your existence and got quite good at it.
Pro: Caravan guards for hire.
Your clan has experience in hiring out its rangers as mercenaries and caravan guards. Every other turn you can send out a band of Rangers to guard a Caravan, while you will also naturally provide escort services for traders passing through your lands.
Con: Working for humans.
The established clans look down on you for working predominantly for human traders. You are barely seen as better than the Umgdawi(Imperial Dwarfs) that live in the Empire. Oftentimes you must exchange your earnings for Dawi coinage, often at crooked exchange range.
[] The Hinterlands around Barak Varr:
In the lands around Barak Varr, your clan built surface settlements akin to human villages. The use of ships and proximity to the Southern Realms of the humans, allowed your clan to develop a reputation as skilled mercenaries.
Pro: Mercenaries for hire.
Your clan has experience in hiring out its rangers as mercenaries to the Southern Realm. Every other turn you will send out a company of Rangers to perform mercenary work. They will seek gainful employment as mercenaries and return with wealth and information.
Con: Working for humans.
The established clans look down on you for working predominantly for human traders. You are barely seen as better than the Umgdawi(Imperial Dwarfs) that live in the Empire. Oftentimes you must exchange your earnings for Dawi coinage, often at crooked exchange range.
[] Near Karak Azgal - Artefact recovery:
Your clan found remote mountain fastnesses near the ruins of Karak Azgal and had trade relations with Skalf's Hold, a fortress of Dawi that routinely went into the old Karak to search for treasures. Your expeditions to sneak into abandoned Karaks have become something your people have gotten exceedingly good at. The Runesmiths of Azul specifically appreciated your aid in seeking out lost runic items.
Pro: Artefact collection expeditions.
Your clan is experienced in sending out expeditions into fallen holds, sneaking inside to extract treasure, cultural relics, and artefacts. These are then returned to their owners if the expedition was commissioned, or sold back for a suitable finder's fee.
Every other turn you can send out a band of Rangers to go mining for wealth, or infiltrate lost Karaks and rescue artefacts from it.
Con: Scavengers.
Your clan's habit of working over lost Dawi territory is looked down upon by more established clans, with you being considered close to scavengers. Demands for payments by exiled clans for operating in their lost territory are not unheard of.
[] Near Karak Azgal - Mining:
In the lands between Karak Eight Peaks, Karak Azgal, and eternally besieged Karak Azul, your clan found remote mountain fastnesses where you thrived for generations in mountain villages. Dozens of ancient dwarf mines lay abandoned, many even by the greenskins that destroyed them, for want of plunder.
Pro: Mining expeditions.
Your clan is experienced in finding mines that were forced to be abandoned by their previous inhabitants. With muffled picks and surprising speed and alacrity, ancient mines are reoccupied for a time, and exposed but abandoned veins of ore and gemstone are mined. Then before they are discovered, the rangers depart with a wealth of processed ore and gemstones.
Every other turn you can send out a band of Rangers to go mining for wealth.
Con: Scavengers.
Your clan's habit of working over lost Dawi territory is looked down upon by more established clans, with you being considered close to scavengers. Demands for payments by exiled clans for operating in their lost territory are not unheard of.
[] Near Karak Kadrin:
Settled near Karak Kadrin, your clan has always had a good relationship with slayers. From your mountainside villages, your clan guarded several approaches from the Dark Lands against Greenskin and Ogre incursions.
Pro: Support slayer warbands.
Being the most militant of Dwarf Holds, Karak Kadrin is always ready to launch expeditions across the Karaz Ankor and beyond. They will be quite willing to accept the aid of skilled Rangers. Every other turn you can send a group of Rangers out to join a large force of Slayers from Karak Kadrin on an expedition. Plunder and wealth shall be your reward.
There will always be a dozen if not more skilled slayers in your home.
Con: Rowdy Slayers.
There's always slayers to be found around your villages, and they are often quite rowdy and eager to start a fight. Not to mention the less than savory background of some of these slayers.
The Hill Dwarf Lifestyle:
Your clan's life on the surface changed your clan, and its members developed skills and learned knowledge that make you stand out from the average hold-dwelling dwarf. These are spread among the many distant villages of Clan Brightstone, with many having their own little variations to these.
Examples include a skill at crafting sturdy but lightweight armour. A skill at making crossbows. Good axes that use minimal steel. And a propensity for herbalism and alchemy to keep your people in combat.
The following skills are known by many in Clan Brightstone or one of its branches. However, among those that joined their Thane in the search of a new place to settle, the following skills are predominant.
(Each of these options has the same monetary value if you're able to monetize them. The point is deciding what your economy will start as.)
Choose two:
[] Skilled herders:
This clan maintains a healthy breeding stock of Aurochs. A large breed of cattle known for their huge size and ability to survive on their own in a hostile world. Unlike the cattle of the empire, these Auroch are able to drive off disorganized hunting by goblins, and outrun orc warbands. While not a source of milk, their meat is a delicacy, their horns are prized, and their hides give your leatherworkers a lot of work. Alongside these aurochs are herds of ornery grumpy goats known for kicking goblins to death, who produce vast quantities of milk. This milk is used to make many types of cheese and cream, which are a popular source of contention. Messenger birds are used as well. Falconry is a popular sport.
[] Green thumbs:
Your Dawi know how to get the most out of nature. While hiding, the woods around their homes are carefully managed. Pollinators are encouraged through planting sweet flowers, while aromatic herbs that discourage pests are strategically placed. Many fruit-bearing and seed-rich trees are positioned and allowed to grow to maturity to ensure a variety of nutrition.
Meanwhile acorns, chestnuts, and syrups provide food variety and beekeeping provides honey and is a respectable trade among the clan.
Most prized however is the truffles. Your ability to gather the delicate mushrooms outmatches any humans, something that humans you interact with attribute to a mysterious "truffle sense", like the stone sense of old. In truth, the longbeards of your clan have learned the secrets of truffle cultivation and over painstaking decades or centuries, cultivate vast stretches of forest for its production.
Lumber, when harvested, is done so with great care, and used in the construction of strong enduring surface dwellings, as well as for making fine furniture and items.
[] Weavers of wool and silk:
Your clan has many skilled weavers, who create intricately and exceptionally woven clothes of whatever materials they find available to them. Sheep are popular among the clan for their wool, with most villages maintaining a herd. But the most prized cloth of your clan is silk. As when an elf once claimed that only the Asur could weave the finest silks in the world. Your clan took it as a challenge. Your Longplaits manage populations of silkworms, selecting only the best and finest moths. Each piece of silk clothing made by the clan is created from singular impeccable strands, woven without any flaws. This silk is then sold as a trade good, or used as clothing.
[] Vineyards, wine, and brandy:
Your clan has since time immemorial, cultivated grapes for food, but instead of growing true Grapevines, they grew stunted bushes in underground greenhouses. That is, until a wandering member of the clan returned with cuttings of grapevines he used to brew a fine red wine during The Year Without Beer, that even the most stubborn of the clan admitted was better than water. Each Brightstone village now has its own Cognac or Brandy they insist is superior.
[] Clay, and porcelain:
Devoid of deep mountainous home and an abundance of quality stone, Hill Dwarfs often have to make do with what can be found closer to the surface. In this case, sand and clay. Your clan makes excellent clay, stone, and tin tableware. Particularly proud are they of the way their longbeards can identify the right clay with but a taste.
But most beloved is those few of their clan that have learned to make glass. And while ordinary dwarves would call these skills wasted upon glass, when diamond and gemstone are readily available, your clan appreciates the beauty of this creation.
Ways of Warfare:
To survive upon the surface requires adaptations from your Dawi. Being a mostly unorganized group of villages with a single Thane, your clan does not field a true military. Instead it is a militia with each Dawi armed and equipped with whatever is available to them. They fight not in battle lines, but as bands led by charismatic leaders.
Choose two:
[] Wagons:
While travelling abroad, your clan utilizes large wagons with plenty of storage space, which are also equipped with an abundance of firing ports. More than one goblin wolf rider horde has broken upon a laager of your wagons. These wagons are pony or even horse-drawn, oftentimes functioning as homes for travelling Dawi.
[] Tunnel networks, flashing mirrors, whistling, and sign language:
Tunnels dug in the dirt with hidden mechanisms to cause them to collapse are common in and around your clan's settlements. Tunnels connect everything from remote lumber cabins to the hall of the Thane, all hidden from the eye of any but the Dawi.
On top of this, your clan has methods to communicate from great distances through flashing lights, smoke signals, whistling.
[] Spears:
On the surface, the best way to kill a charging foe is often with a long spear. Without the constant fighting in close quarters below, and regular attacks from mounted foes, your clan has found that spears are very handy. Your clan have gotten skilled at using spears, being equally adept at stopping a charging foe as throwing one into an enemy.
[] Troll Hunters:
Your clan loves troll meat. Bringing in a troll is a matter of great celebration, as everyone will gather to enjoy the many cuts, stews, sausages, and soups that the clan makes. The ravenous hunger for troll meat has actually resulted in some trolls instinctively avoiding your settlements. Large cuts of troll are kept by many of the clan, repeatedly used for food until the meat stops regenerating.
Your clan is skilled at taking down large beasts and humanoids.
[] Slingers:
Your clan learn to use a sling from a young age, and spend decades mastering this skill. Whether they're smooth stones or lead balls, your slingers can hit small birds from flight at a great range. When your clan is attacked, most of your militia will meet their enemies with hails of stones and lead balls while skirmishing.
[] Dogs and cats:
Thanks to living upon the surface, animals that would wither below ground are readily trained. The clan has bred large shepherd dogs(Think Caucasian Shepherd Dog) who are fitted with spiked collars and sometimes padded armour. Used for guarding homes and livestock from goblins and gors. Large and stoic, some of these dogs are as tall as the Dawi they guard and fiercely protective. Another animal is a particularly large breed of cat(think a Maine Coon) used to keep rats under control, and to drive off Skaven whom are terrified of them. These cats are large enough to bite out the throat of a Skavenslave, and have been known to hunt them down
Cultural divergence:
Your clan have, since their seperation from the Karaz Ankor, developed what your kin believe to be some rather queer habits. Like enjoying sunlight and the open air. Not that you care about them, as your clan have a gay old time outdoors.
Your Dawi all have a very tanned and sun-touched complexion that you see no issue in bearing around. To most Dawi, you look potentially deranged already. But that could be overlooked if your behaviour wasn't even worse.
Your clan are seen as potentially deranged by most Dawi.
Choose two:
[] Beer is precious:
Because of frequent shortages of barley where your clan settled, Dwarf Beer became too precious for casual consumption and instead became considered a religious substance among the Clan. It is to be given out at the Valayan Temple on religious holidays and only consumed with great care and reverence. Spilling beer by clanking flagons is considered a gross faux pas. Each drop is a gift of Valaya, and is to be treasured.
Your clan produces little beer due to circumstances. But what it does produce, is of high quality. This is considered either a sign of pitiable poverty, or concern.
[] Matriarchal liberation.
Due to a catastrophic loss two hundred years ago, resulting in the deaths of most of the clan's sons, most of the 'administrative' and managing tasks within the clan as well as many of the most experienced crafters, are Longplaints who have taken over from their deceased husbands and brothers.
Women in the Clan are allowed to wander freely without being provided an escort at all times, have greater personal freedom regarding whom they wish to marry, and often own and maintain property without being widowed. This offends traditionalist Dawi of both genders.
[] Love of music and song:
Your clan loves singing songs not of battle, but of labour and prosperity. Harps and violins are used to play quintessentially Dawi music.
Your celebrations and feasts are not very popular among Dawi outside your clan, who complain that they are often too quiet.
[] Like trees:
Unlike most dwarfs, who think of wood as merely kindling for forges when coal isn't available, your clan likes trees. Cozy log cabins are popular among your clan, and meanwhile trees are a popular motif and design inspiration for your underground carvings.
Your homes are seen as definitely deranged by most Dawi. Although your sculpting and carving skills are impressive.
[] Fishing boats and rafting:
Most enemies of the Dawi can not swim. And so an island or a river is an excellent way to defend oneself. Either by swimming across for safety, or surrounding onself with water. And instead of fishing with explosives, your Dawi like to fish using fishing rods, many even using rowboats.
Dwarfs in a rowboat, fishing in a mountain lake just looks weird to outside visitors.
Leaving your homeland:
It is 2200 of the Imperial Calender. You are Bokri Starbolt, a beardling of fifty years whose beard is only just about starting to reach past his pecs. A lone son with no brothers or sisters raised to support them in maintaining their line. But the line of succession is clear. And so a beardling is to be the Thane of the clan. You are crowned the thane of a clan in turmoil. Many branches of the clan have fallen out of contact, and you do not know their fate.
Your father, Grorgias Starbolt, nearly doomed your clan with his leadership, losing many strong warriors, and most importantly, the majority of those who should defend the Thane's settlement. He departed into Karak Brynduraz on an expedition, and nobody returned alive.
Why does your clan need to flee?
[] A Blood Feud:
Your clan have fought with Clan Krakhammer for centuries now. Those perfidious Dawi have fought your clan time and time again, with each confrontation turning deadlier than the last. Smelling weakness, they have come to take your wealth and exact retribution from your clan. Before they could do so, you departed out of their reach.
A moderately prosperous clan of Dwarfs has a blood feud against your clan.
[] Vengeful High Elves:
A group of High Elves examining a mysterious stone in your territory did -not- know the passwords for being so close to the Thane's home, and several of their number were promptly riddled with crossbow bolts. A massive force of armed High Elves arrived from the sea and forced you from your homes at spearpoint. Only their restraint spared you from certain death.
May they choke on their damn stone.
[]Passing Imperial Expedition:
One of the Electors of the fractured Empire has gone on an expedition through your lands, convinced that he was on the right path to find one of the lost Runefangs. His soldiers stole food, cattle, and had the temerity to 'pay' in debased imperial coinage. When you refused to trade, weapons were drawn and they took much of it by force. With your herds reduced, fields picked clean by foraging soldiers, and much of the countryside ravaged, you decided to depart.
[]Passing Bretonnian Crusade:
One of the Dukes of the Kingdom of Bretonnia has gone on an expedition through your lands, convinced that he was on the right path to find the grail. His soldiers stole food, cattle, and when the Duke was confronted, he insisted that it was 'just how armies worked'. When you refused to trade, weapons were drawn and they took much of it by force. With your herds reduced, fields picked clean by foraging soldiers, and much of the countryside ravaged, you decided to depart.
[] Angry Cathayans: (Requires taking Weavers of wool and silk)
The Cathayans are not happy about your people acquiring their silk worms and one of the children of the Dragon Emperor flew over to burn several of your villages down as a show of displeasure. With your defenses destroyed, the choice was made to leave.
[]Passing Cathayan Expedition: (Not compatible with Weavers of wool and silk)
One of the Cathayan Dragons has gone on an expedition through your lands, convinced that the are on the right path to find 'one of their lost siblings'. Their soldiers arrived well organized and promptly catalogued and mapped out your holdings. They decided how much of it you would need to survive, and claimed the rest. They had the temerity to 'pay' with pieces of paper with wax seals on them, insisting they could be exchanged with any Cathayan merchant. When you refused again, they took your goods anyways and kept their paper when you told them where they could put it. With your herds reduced, fields picked clean by foraging soldiers, and much of the countryside ravaged, you decided to depart.
LET IT BEGIN. Plan voting. We are doing a 13 hour Moratorium on voting.
...
