Cultures

Choosing a CULTURE allows you to choose from 1-3 PERKS associated with that CULTURE. A Character is forced to take as many CULTURAL QUIRKS as they choose PERKS, so if you choose 3 PERKS, you must also choose the remaining 3 QUIRKS.

Activating a cultural PERK or QUIRK is as easy as fulfilling the requirement for the Perk or Quirk as noted in the Requirements for that PERK or QUIRK on the cultural chart - e.g., a character with the GENEROUS Perk would only have to give something valuable to someone in need, and the Perk would then be activated.

Activating a Cultural Quirk or Perk always results in the same benefit:

The Player can choose to make any one future CHALLENGE or SAVE Roll in that Scene or Combat as though their TALENT for that Ability were SUPERNAL.

Cultural Perk and Quirk activations do not stack, so there are no additional benefits to meeting the requirement for more Cultural Perks or Quirks once one has become active.

Choosing a Culture also gives you a leg up deciding what BACKGROUND details you can choose for your character. BACKGROUNDS are a shorthand way to build a character’s backstory while including four specific details:

• Social Standing,
• Faith,
• Profession, and
• Faction Alignment.

Advanced players familiar with the Dying Sun setting can build their own Backgrounds from those four components, but included in the following Cultural profiles are common Backgrounds for each Culture to facilitate quick play for new players.

Actually, yes - there are several, and they’re noted below, along with the reasons they have no persistent culture, and the Cultures where those Species can most commonly be found.

Tiring of the constant wars and politics, hardy Dalkrian explorers and pioneers joined forces and ventured west, to Vadria, and forged homes there from the wild, unconquered lands.

When the first hardy explorers ventured west across the Dalkrian Seas to Vadria, they founded Ændor just inland from the new land’s northeastern coasts, only to realize they’d discovered a land close to paradise. While far away from the corruption of the Autarchy, the peninsula’s rich loam, the nearby forests’ rich game, and the natural cove harbor on the shore made this slow-growing city the perfect sanctuary for the world-weary - and for those looking to leave their old lives behind.

The Ændish consist primarily of Human, Vasriel, and Kâlindivailian citizens; others are accepted but are clear minorities.

The cultures of Alan’thil, the Vasriel city formed from the twined and enmeshed branches and canopies of the giant trees in the south of Dalkiar. Ancient and a bit self-absorbed, the culture focuses on living with nature instead of in opposition to it.

When the Vasriel split across philosophical lines, the Solindriel stayed in their ancient home of Alan’thil, using the peaceful boughs of the gigantic Nal’ar trees as both literal and metaphoric shields against the rapid changes around and within them. Though they mourn the separation of their Tenebriel cousins, they see the entropy of their forest as the truest lens from which to view the world, and its ongoing care figures prominently in their culture.

Though predominantly Solindriel and highly conservative, the Alanthi have on occasion been known to take in any sentient being which can be at peace in the boughs of the Nal’ar trees.

The seaport of Anlador is home to this culture, with its daunting sea-maze and its towering, mechanized locks protecting its sprawling docks, and its dual personality as an old drab military town now surrounded by a bustling trade hub beyond its inner walls.

Founded long before the Warlord came, Anlador was built by the kâlindur as a first line of defense against the stone ships of Khozhn’ol, with its razor-edged sea maze and its mammoth anlrâk sea-gates, with their powerful stone pillars standing sentinel to the bay’s entrance day and night. Though the one-time stronghold seaport has become a cosmopolitan center for trade, the Locks are as impressive now as the day they were wrought, and the city’s inner walls still bear the scars of both Imperial Khozhn’ol and Daloric Warlord alike.

Anladrian folk are primarily humans and vasriel, with a smattering of kâlindivaal and ur.

The center of Ur culture, Areg is a city of massive carven and engraved stone circles and spheres, standing as a study in both grandiose form and detailed function from the perspective of the giants.

Cycles of all kinds - life, death, love, war, commerce, and philosophy - find themselves inscribed in the stone surfaces of the city’s walls, and their winding, visual storytelling merges in strange ways when walls and cycles converge and then split off again.

The Ur have made an attempt to build Areg in such a way where other species could feel welcome, but its simple scale is offputting to most others, and its vast, inscribed halls and otherwise crude niceties make it a difficult place to love for any but its makers.

The pastoral Betril Isle, nestled safely off the coast of Dalkiar, has been home to the kâlindivaal for centuries. With little strategic significance, Bet’ril Isle has largely escaped the ravages of the mainland’s wars… though its proximity to Fallen Isle is a bleak reminder that no place is entirely safe.

Though Bet’daur, the kâlindivailian capitol, plays host to the trade ships of Dalkiar, Vadria, and even far-off Khozhn’ol, its laid-back, peaceful occupants, its lack of warlike capabilities or footing, and its cultural propensity for simply getting along make the place a kind of unspoken neutral zone, where even most long-time enemies can meet, speak freely, and make arrangements between them despite their diplomatic footing.

Bet’daur itself is known for its unusual architecture, itself a testament to the kâlindivailian ethic of getting along. Scaled half for the native kâlindivaal inhabitants with its 3’ tall doors, and half for the tallest visitors, the ur, with 6-yard ceilings, there is a place of comfort and respite to be found for most folk

As a result, while the bucolic Isle itself is primarily populated by kâlindivaal inhabitants – farmers, fishers, miners and craftsfolk plying their trades and enjoying simple lives – Bet’daur is extremely cosmopolitan, and many retired military officers, adventurers, and traders have made their home there.

The Gochin cities and villages who swear fealty to them form the Cavagar culture, a loosely defined group whose beliefs and behaviors stem from an unshakeable faith in self, an undue reverence for the past, and a distaste for external opinions.

One of the lost cultures of the Adaric Archipelagos, far to the south. Separated from the North for hundreds of years, their perspectives are quaint and archaic, and they have had a difficult time re-integrating into the modern world.

The Republic of Ceriphos was known as the center of wisdom and knowledge of the Adaric Archipelagos. Originally formed by runaway slaves from Rhaliman, it proudly aligned itself against the barbarism of that slave state. While they grew powerful and fought valiantly against the injustices of the slavers, in the end, their pride proved their undoing. Refusing to see see the growing threat of Ilduroth, or the need to ally against a far greater evil, Ceriphos fell when the iron fleet sailed from Ilduroth, leaving Deligos and Rhaliman alone to fight the awakened evil of the wraith queen.