Werd

 

 

Werd came from a bit of a strange place, mostly that I love dwarves.  They are probably overall my favorite fantasy race so I had to think carefully how I wanted to implement their archetype in Gal Hadre.  So I had to think a lot about the things I really like about dwarves that I wanted to keep in their replacement race.  I settled on a somewhat short list of tough, organized, mountainous/underground, somewhat militant and expert craftsmen.  After that, it was at some point determined that they should be insectoid, as the dwarven type having inherent armour seemed cool.  Some of their now defining cultural features were added when I got a friend to start drawing a set of pictures for the core races of Gal Hadre.

I guess before I go further I should describe Werd.  They stand around 5ft tall, and have an exoskeleton, generally of a dark or earthy colour, most Werd have a secondary colouring as well.  Werd have a pair of antenna, mandibles that often are constantly in motion giving a background chattering and compound eyes, that each have 6 eyes.  Like other humanoids, Werd have two arms, two legs and bilateral symmetry.  Werd tend not to wear a ton of clothes, generally only having tool belts, pouches and weapon holsters.  Other than Trollkin who have a limited form of regeneration, Werd are the toughest of the major races of Gal Hadre.

 

 

Early on, I wanted to use the organized aspect to make the Werd very caste based.  They are so caste based that even those who attempt to reject their caste system are still able to be contained with the system as outcaste.  Caste and even sub-caste is determined by a Werd’s parents caste, specifically the parent of the same gender.  So sons follow their fathers and daughters their mothers.  A Werd’s sub-caste is indicated by the medallion that hangs around their neck; the material of that medallion indicates their rank within their sub-caste.

Werd names are always structured first’clan, though their friends and family would only use the first name.  Werd clans are distinct from castes in that they date back many centuries to the ancient cave dwelling groups of Werd.

Regardless of caste, all werd have some level of martial training, however to avoid entire sub-castes from being wiped out, Werd militia is organized by clan rather than caste.  Militia tend to primarily focus on weapons and tactics that can support their professional military, so spears, dual uses weapons like axes or simple ranged weapons such as crossbows.  Werd soldiers are a caste to themselves, with many sub-castes; though caster support to soldiers comes from the mage caste, not a sub-caste within soldiers.  Werd tend to have very infantry and archery focused armies, with minimal cavalry.  This often makes Werd armies better at defensive battles or battles in closed terrain.  Werd generally use two types of reptilian mounts; the Krydyr and the flying Lyfdyr.  A Werd legion is officially around 5200 combat soldiers, 3500 melee infantry, 1000 ranged infantry, 500 cavalry and 200 more specialized troops including scouts, command staff and mobile siege weapons.  Other than specialists, Werd units are grouped in 500s and 100s, allowing for significant flexibility in their tactical organization.

 

The Werd mage caste is small and probably has the largest percentage lost to the outcaste.  It has 8 sub-castes based around each of the 8 paths of dragon magic.    While members of each sub-caste focus on their primary path, they generalize just as much as any other race’s mages.  The one area where Werd mages are considered experts in is magic items.  Probably half the very limited supply of magic items produced are made by Werd specialists.

Their natural habitat is caves and mountainous areas.  Even with their current level of technology, it is somewhat common for smaller Werd communities to be entirely underground, either in caves or tunnels.  Sometimes what appears to be an isolated watchtower, is actually the only visible part of a remote mining community that is otherwise entirely underground.  Werd value safety and security over comfort in their homes and communities.

  

Werd are known as expert craftsmen, only Tund metal-smithing is considered comparable.  Where Tund items are considered functional works of art, Werd are designed purely for function.  Their weapons and tools are the primary export from most of their communities, and their stonemasons are considered the best in the world.  Many of their masons travel across Gal’Hadre selling their services to nobles, priests and merchants then returning to their homeland with their hard earned coin.

I can’t talk about the Werd without talking in some detail about the city-kingdom of Kal’Garand.  It controls most of the Werd dominated towns and villages along the great mountain range, but the only real city within the kingdom is Kal’Garand.  The city is the largest that exists on the continent of Gal Hadre, though some of the shard cities are larger.  The city is a mix of about 60% buildings and 40% underground structures, a hybrid structure that fits Werd very well.  

Officially Kal’Garand is a near absolute Monarchy, but in practice the King and nobility are advised by a council made up of representatives from all the castes.  The King generally only gets directly involved in things that interest him or are clearly not going well.  The one area where nobility take direct lead is war, there is no real command sub-caste within the soldier caste, as the Werd see no distinction between noble and general.  Every town has at least one noble family that lives in it to oversee the region.

Thanks to their merchant caste, the city-kingdom has the strongest economy relative to size on Gal Hadre.  An excellent network of well maintained roads links major towns back to Kal’Garand itself, also allowing their legions to rapidly move within their territory.  More than one foe has been shocked by the sudden arrival of a legion of Kal’Garand regulars backed by a clan or two of auxiliaries.