Wehr
Newcomers to the Kingdom
We arrive now at a strange lineage, newly arrived to Seln. The Wehr are a young people, not yet fully integrated into Harmony.
Here we will cover the group known as Wehrans. There are, however, three other factions, all of which seem to belong to this same lineage called “humanity”.
Other factions:
- The rebellious and warlike Aufslanders pirates that raid the coast of the Kingdom from the safety of Siwari jungle fortresses
- The mysterious Celestials, crash landed in the remote reaches and equipped with foreign magics
- The varied and storied Travelers, arrived from other worlds entirely!
Perhaps we will cover these other factions more another day…
Origins
Every year, the Mad King’s demands grew worse. Taxes rose until we had barely enough wheat to feed our children! The Mad King’s thugs came to conscript our young men into the army, and they vanished on escapades over the mountains! We feared the land would soon become naught but rubble and ruin…
Then the winter set in hard and fast. The passes filled with snow, and we barely managed to finish the last harvest! We settled in against the blizzards and prayed for mercy from the Mad King’s whims come spring.
The weather worsened. And worsened. Drifts rose to the tops of our barns, and we lost contact with the outside world.
Soon we could only keep paths cleared between our three cities: Rin, Bern, and Elmhorn. We feared we would starve!
At long last, the clouds broke, and the weather warmed. As the sky cleared, we discovered a new world.
Instead of mountains, rolling plains.
Instead of the Mad King, we met caravans from somewhere called the Kingdom. As we explored, instead of fearing the Mad King’s collectors, we learned to fear the thundering hooves of the centauri.
If not for the Kingdom, the centauri would have driven us into the sea. Now we must rely on these “Path warriors” for protection, even as their Harmony reshapes our children before our eyes.
The world changed. Now we must make the best of it.
Stature
You are a Wehran, one among the stout-backed mountain men now stranded in this strange world.
About you:
- Height: 170 to 185 cm, with men taller than women
- Build: Strong and powerful
- Hair: Unique among the clans, many of your lineage are blonde!
Lineage blessing:
- Lineage blessings? You’re just normal folk!
- Your new neighbors do seem awfully prone to sickness though…
- Plus they react way too much to spices!
Naming conventions
You prefer simple, straight forward names for your children. None of this silliness about naming your child the same as his father for a thousand years or naming all your kids after flowers!
Common names for boys: Victor, Sebastian, William, Claude, Gregbert, Jonathan
Common names for girls: Samantha, Margaret, Olivia, Sophia, Gregbertina, Alexandra
While other lineages measure by the clan, you measure your family by last name. The four largest families are:
Durandal, Caled, Hrunting, Tyrfing
Role – The Unknown
Your families have only been in this strange land for a few decades, and your people have faced difficulties enough with the elemental storms and angry neighbors that few have ventured outwards.
Your role in Harmony is to be determined. In fact, you may not be sure if this Harmony thing is a social contract or a religion!
Only time will tell what twist of fate drew you to these lands and how you might become a part of the Kingdom.
Your Song
Newcomers to the plains
Before your families arrived, the centauri alone dominated the plains east of the Aloran forest. The proud centauri bore witness to what they claimed was the desecration of their sacred hunting and burial grounds by newcomers and moved to eject you by force.
Weak from the long winter, your forefathers struggled to even defend the three cities. Outlying homesteads were sacked, and your forefathers despaired once more.
In this time of need, they were visited by emissaries from the west who offered aid. Backed against the wall, your forefathers accepted, and the King’s Chosen arrived for battle.
Together, this force battled the centauri to a stalemate. After several years, the war band relented, and a tentative cease-fire fell.
The centauri never declared formal war nor ended it. Instead, you and the centauri have now become most uneasy neighbors. You never know whether an approaching centauri band means to raid or to trade!
Tensions remain high.
Rebuilding and change
Your lineage emerged from the long winter and centauri wars with three battered cities.
- Rin – Your new capital, home to fifty thousand
- Bern – The center of industry, currently undergoing a culinary renaissance
- Elmhorn – A smaller city of ten thousand, Elmhorn is the last major settlement before caravans head southeast for Izu
With the help of Aloran scholars, all three cities now have wards linked to the Kingdom, granting relief from the storms.
Other changes are harder to stomach. The Kingdom sends craftsmen to help rebuild and merchants to trade…but it also sends the strange Teachers to spread Harmony to your children.
New shrines appear in your cities. Your children walk to school in new clothes. The world changes, and pressure grows. Many among your forefathers remember the old world, and they wonder which is worse: to be oppressed by a Mad King or to lose one’s identity to a foreign land?
A Culinary renaissance
Your ancestors were farmers. In arts, administration, and magic you have little to offer your new fellows.
Your gift comes unexpected. Quite by accident, your fathers brought with them superior foods! Corns, wheats, soybeans, potatoes! Some were known to the Kingdom; others new; but your strains grew faster and better than the ones already here.
Far away clans know little of your lineage except:
- Wehran bread is the best in the land
- Wehran whiskey can knock the hair off a cat
Beyond these staple crops, the Wehran attitude to food is fusion cuisine. Ignoring thousands of years of tradition, your folk hurtle ingredients together like madmen. Find a neat Aloran sirloin? Dice it up and wrap it in a corn flatbread! Think an Izu fish recipe is a little plain? Grind a little chili pepper on it!
Wehran chefs have begun to crop up across the Kingdom, butchering sacred cuisine traditions in the name of delicious fusion foods.
Unfortunately, the more adventurous Wehran recipes sometimes cause food sickness in other lineages, and you can’t figure out why. A bit of ghost pepper’s nothing to cry over!
In fact, your tolerance for spices has never been better! You have tried nice weeds and seeds that other lineages insist are…well…poisonous…and felt none the worse for wear! You aren’t sure why your grandfathers seemed so averse to hemlock; it has quite the bitter kick!
Whispers of Harmony
There are a few oddities in these last few years.
- The current elders are quite robust and healthy despite their age
- Laborers have reported healing seemingly severe cuts
- Plants your parents warned you were poisonous taste just fine as garnish
The Teachers smile to hear this. If you ask, they say that Harmony has begun to make its home in your heart.
That’s silly, right? Right?
Growing Resistance
First came the Teachers to fill your children’s head with nonsense. Then came Path warriors, showcasing their strange powers and recruiting your young to study at far-away mountains. Now ever stranger folk gradually trickle into your cities!
The oldest among you grow weary of these interruptions. Many long for the world they knew as children, and this grievance finds root in a celebration.
The very first school of Graces has opened in Rin just this last year. Now students wear Aloran dresses to school! They recite Izuno poetry and sing Floran ditties!
Pretty soon there won’t be anything of the old world left! Somebody has got to do something…