Deep Dive: Alfar!

[Bricingwolf]

Alfar

Speed: 6 yards

Attribute Points: 1 Charisma, 1 Dexterity

Favored Skills: Nature, Influence

Blessing of The Vanir: Your people are cousins to the spirits of the land, and you can speak their language.

Benefit:
You know the language of any elemental spirit race, such as Djinn or Dryads, which reside in noticeable numbers in the region of your origin, or any land you begin play with Area Familiarity in.
In any area wherein you have Area Familiarity, you can speak to the spirits of local plants, natural or long-standing bodies of water, or simply the land itself in the immediate surroundings, as well as any domestic spirits, or spirits who have formed an identity based on their more settled environment (see sidebar), as if speaking to an NPC normally, rather than having to perform a Shamanism ritual.

If you are not familiar with an area, you can gain this ability there by spending 1 full day in a ritual which starts either at dawn or dusk, and ends at the same time the next day. Enough time is spent in quiet meditation and a sleep-like vision state, that you gain no adverse effects for losing sleep, but you also gain none of the normal healing benefits of sleep. At the end of the ritual, you must spend 2 Attribute Points, 1 from Charisma and 1 from Fortitude, and make 3 skill checks, with Nature (Easy), Influence (Moderate), and Shamanism. The final check only fails if you critically fail. Otherwise, an Easy or Moderate success only gives access to the trait as normal. Difficult Success also allows you to call upon a spirit guide who comes in the form of a small animal that will not fight for you, but will act as a minor companion for 24 hours.

You can perform this ritual in an area you are already Familiar, in order to try and gain a temporary companion. When doing so, the last check only requires Moderate success to gain the companion. Your GM may allow you to consistently perform this ritual over the course of several sessions to gain a permanent minor companion, using the rules for performing an Undertaking in order to Train a Trait.

Note, Alfar in Urban Campaigns: Most urban environments still include natural areas or “green space”, which do have their own nature spirits. However, such environments lack many greater nature spirits, tend to have much less active water spirits unless they have free flowing rivers or large long-standing bodies of water like public lakes, and those water bodies have flora and fauna inhabiting them. Either way, the spirits of a city are different, and cities have their own unique spirits. Very old buildings attract spirits in similar ways that very old tree groves will, and those spirits take on the personality of their neighborhood and their city. It is not uncommon to find a quiet and learned old spirit inhabiting an old public library, or a protective and caring spirit inhabiting a school building. These are no less Vanir than the spirits of the wood or desert.

Homeworld: Earth, Otherworld, eventually Chevar.

Physical Description: Alfar vary about as widely as humans in appearance, if not moreso. Red hair and green eyes are both much more common, as they are dominant traits in Alfar. Many of even the most dark skinned Alfar have fire red hair. Many also have hair and skin tones not seen in humans, such as skin the reddish brown of great redwoods, or hair in blues and greens. Alfar tend to have physical traits which tell a knowledgable observer where their ancestors are from. The Alfar of the Desert of Andal tend toward dark brown skin, clear blue or grey eyes, their hair tends toward the soft tans and light browns of desert cats. Nearby Alduranda is home to many Djinn and Svart Alfar, and it’s Alfar tend toward the thick, curly, dark hair of Sub-Sarahan Africans, very dark skin, and eyes ranging from dark greens to inky black. Much futher North, in the lands controlled by the vassals of Frey, the Alfar are pale of skin, and with hair and eyes often having a slight metallic sheen, their hair often in the colors of precious metals like gold and silver.

Culture and Religion: In this, the Alfar are strongly influenced by their time living more closely with humans. While the Islam of Alduranda, animistic paganism of Vanaheimr, or the Zoroastrianism of Andala, are noticeably different from their Earth cousins, they are recognizably the same faiths, and the people who follow them tend toward many of the same cultural eccentricities, especially in art, music, dress, and speech.

    One important difference in many cases is the strong focus on Animism in Alfar culture. Nearly all Alfar have a deep respect for their spirit cousins, and thereby for all living things. They tend to believe that places have a character and personality of their own, that grows over time, and is greater than the mortals who inhabit such spaces, for instance. An ancient place of worship, or trade, or relaxation, is refered to by name as one would an elder member of the community. Alfar culture centers largely around the concept of cycles. Art, especially architecture, it often based on mathematical patterns, like the Fibonacci Sequence, found in most natural spiraling patterns, and various fractals which generate complex structures from repeating patterns. Socially, Alfar believe that each individual possesses part of the souls of their ancestors, and that parents pass on part of their soul to their children when they conceive, and that parents (even adoptive parents), teachers, and others who influence the life of a child contribute to the soul over the course of raising them. Thus, to the Alfar, an individual’s soul is a thing which grows with them, and is grown from those who came before, and is influenced strongly by the influence of those around you. Thus, in Alfar cultures, social responsibility is a nearly universal priority. A truly selfish Alfar is seen as a sign that something has gone horribly wrong in their community. This has lead to some trouble with individuals who develop Anti Social Personality Disorders, though asocial individuals are generally treated with a compassionate distance, at worst. A great priority of Alfar healing in many cultures is helping Anti-Social people develop the ability to connect genuinely with their fellows, or at least to function in their community without causing undue disruption.

[Bricingwolf]

Key NPCs: Every culture and settlement has it’s leaders and antagonists, it’s underbelly, underdogs, and outcasts. Here are some example NPCs a traveler might encounter.
Maeve Mac Mannanan is a fairly young woman of mixed descent. Her clan are, as the name suggests, descended from Mannanan, but Maeve herself is a half Svart Alfar bastard. She was thrown into the sea by her grandfather, upon discovering her and her parents, and her Svart Alfar father was executed for invented crimes. Maeve did not drown as the patriarch of Clan Mannannan hoped, and instead reappeared in a year and a day, grown to the age of majority, and full of knowledge and power. She will not speak of where she was, or what happened, but she returned from the waves she was thrown into, at the helm of a warship. Withing a year she had hunted down her grandfather, Caergal, and defeated and banished him, taking his place as head of the Clan. Now, she rules the Dragon Sea as the Pirate Queen. Travellers have reported meeting her in taverns and ale houses, carousing as if a common sailor, or singing and playing a silver lyre. At her side is her trusty Shillelagh, and always nearby is the great she-wolf Aegris, who followed her out of the sea.
Maeve is friendly, doesn’t take fancy airs seriously, scoffs at formality, but is possessed of razor sharp wit and a keen eye. She’s a tough negotiator, and despite her title and reputation, is a woman of her word. She has the red hair of the coastal Alfar, the dark eyes of her father’s kin, and her skin is the pale green of sea foam. She stands short for an ALfar, only about 5’, with the broad shoulders and defined musculature of a gymnast.