"The Realms of Man must not fall. Our fate is intertwined with theirs, and if they fall, so too do we. For this reason, I taught their first masters of magic, and for this reason, we must not abandon Men, despite their barbarous ways."
- Teclis, Loremaster of Ulthuan
Mankind, also called Men and sometimes Humans or Manlings by the Dwarves, are a race of intelligent, mammalian humanoids dominant in the Old World. The race of Men were on of the last intelligent peoples of the world to become civilized. However, they are now one of the most powerful and populous species spread across the globe and might be considered the dominant intelligent race fo the world since the civilizations of the High Elves and the Dwarfs entered their mutual states of decline. Men are the chief devotees of the Imperial god Sigmar, as well as the primary opponent of Chaos' continued incursions into the Old World. In a severe grip of irony however, Mankind is also the Dark Gods' greatest and most numerous servants.
It is very common knowledge that the race of Men is known to be highly susceptible to the influences of Chaos. And in fact, it is Mankind's dominance in the world that has shaped the Realm of Chaos and much of the form the Chaos Gods currently take, as they are ultimately no more than psychic manifestations in the Immaterium of the intelligent species of the galaxy's collective psyches. Unlike the High Elves, Mankind has only just begun the transistion into a race that can fully utilize the Winds of Magic. As yet, very few humans develop the genetic mutation that allows them to become wizards, though this number is slowly increasing as the centuries pass. However, most human wizards lack the mental discipline or inner strength to prevent themselves from becoming daemonic hosts or the capability to access all the Winds of Magic simultaneously, like the greatest of the Elven Archmagi.
Personality: Like most higher primates, humans are social animals. However, humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of communication for self expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competeing groups, from families to nations. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which together form the basis of human society. Humans are noted for their desire to understand and influence their environment, seeking to explain and manipulate phenomena through science, philosopy, mythology, and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development fo advanced tools and skills, which are passed down culturally, though cultural stagnation or even retrogression is possible, as the grim history of the Elder Races so readily demonstrates.
Physical Description: Humans average about 5 1/2 feet tall. Skin shades run from nearly black to very pale, hair from black to blonde. Men are usually taller and heavier than women. Humans achieve maturity about the age of 15 and rarely live beyond 60.
Factions: Order, Fortune, Destruction and Undeath. Humans run the gamut of factions. Some nations seek to keep the forces of the Ruinous Powers at bay, with the eventual goal of their complete destruction. Other nations, whom have little knowledge or experience of Chaos, wish only to become more powerful over the rest of mankind. Still others willingly serve the Chaos Gods in exchange for life and power. And finally, there are those whom have lost all hope and have decided to hedge their bets with the inevitable truth; all things must die. Those who seek the power of Nagash, may be of use to the great necromancer, and will be spared his wrath, upon his return.
Homelands: The nations of Man include -
Albion:
Albion is an island surrounded by mist and fog. It is home to the mysterious Ogham Stones and tribal, woad-wearing human barbarians, the Gaels.
Amazonia:
Amazonia is a small island straddling the Amaxon River shortly before it joins with the Amoco River in the jungle continent of Lustria. It is home to the Amazons, a tribe of warrior women ruled over by a Queen. There are very few eyewitness accounts of the Amazons, as those who encounter them are usually killed or captured and never seen from again. Those few adventurers who have seen and managed to escape Lustria with their tales are looked on with pity as mad men back in the Old World.
Araby:
Araby is a desert nation that lies to the west of the Land of the Dead in the Southlands and is comprised of both highly sophisticated commercial urban centers and tribes of desert nomads.
The Border Princes:
The Border Princes are a natural destination for emigrating peasants and nobles, seeking a better life. Most of these colonists come from the Empire, while others come from Tilea and Bretonnia. Many of them are political or religious refugees, but the region is also the natural destination for deserters and/or criminals on the run from the law. In former times, the Border Princes were largely inhabited by savage tribes of Greenskins, but now the land is fiercely disputed by the hardy human colonists and many Orc and Goblin tribes. The human colonists are tentatively organized into tiny kingdoms, small principalities, and independent city-states, but most of them are little more than fortified villages. All of them are targets of fierce Greenskin raids and few survive for very long.
Bretonnia:
Bretonnia is the human kingdom located directly west of the Empire, whose people are ethnically related to the barbarian tribes of Men that founded the Empire. However, the society is deeply segregated where the peasants of Bretonnia are highly oppressed by the ruling class, more so than other nations. Bretonnia is the Empire's chief military rival, and the knights that comprise its heavy cavalry remain the best in the Old World.
Cathay:
Cathay is the largest nation of the Eastern Lands on the far eastern edge of the Old World's continent. Like the people of the Old World, the Cathayans are in constant conflict with the mortal and daemonic servants of the Ruinous Powers of the northern Chaos Wastes. Another enemy the Cathayans face are the brutal Ogre Kingdoms to their west and northwest.
The (Northern) Chaos Wastes:
The Chaos Wastes are the great Chaos-suffused wastelands which surround both the North and South poles of the world. Correspondingly, they are called the Northern and Southern Wastes. Their creation stemmed from the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates, when Chaos first flooded the world. The regions surrounding the poles were the most severely affected, and remain places of seething Chaos. It is a land of desolation shrouded in unnatural darkness, irredeemably corrupted and distorted by the suffusive Chaos. Here, every law of the universe has been scattered to the wind, and the energies of Chaos visit their anarchy on the forms of every living and unliving thing. Here the Champions of Chaos and their armies fight endlessly to gain the attentions of their patrons gods. The Chaos Wastes are also known as the Shadowlands, for they lie in the shadow of Chaos itself. At the very centre of the Wastes, reality gives way to the Realm of Chaos.
The Northern Wastes surround the North Pole. This is a frozen land covered with ice in the far north which gradually gives way to tundra and large plains. The land is peopled by the Northmen, warlike and barbaric tribes who are born into the worship of the Chaos gods. During the Chaos incursions, the tribes descend as a great horde upon the civilized nations to the south. The threat from the Chaos Wastes remains constant, for when not invading as part of a great Chaos incursion, small bands pillage the civilized lands to brutally take whatever they need or desire.
The Empire of Man:
The Empire stands as the mightiest nation of the Old World but also a deeply corrupt and often unjust human society where many have fallen to the corruption of Chaos. Yet it is still the greatest bulwark the Old World has against Chaos, which push them back time and again. The Empire benefits from a great diversity of military units and the various orders of wizards who comprise the Colleges of Magic, and it is the home of the Cult of Sigmar.
The Kingdoms of Estalia:
Estalia is a nation of the Old World, politically divided into several small kingdoms and currently lacking a central government. Far to the south of the cold and benighted Empire of Sigmar, lies another land, a land of wide open plains warmed by a gentle sun, bordered by perfect blue seas. This great southern peninsula has been spared the worst ravages of the greenskins, and knows little of Chaos.
Here, threats are distant and religious strife is unknown under the overarching protection of the Maiden Myrmidia. Culture and learning bloom, and art, music and the pursuit of pleasure dominate over all. However, this peninsula is not one nation, but many. The Kingdoms of Estalia have never needed to unite against an outside force and so remains forever fractured.
Here, the enemy lies within, and the business of politics, war and even love is settled with knives in the darkness or blades at dawn, and so every man must be a master swordsman if he hopes to live until his beard turns grey. Beware then, the men of the south, for they are quick to anger, slow to foregt and their hands never leave their sword hilts - save only to drink their sweet lemon wine, or to kiss the hand of a passing beauty.
The Kingdoms of Ind:
In the land of Ind, the Land of a Thousand Gods, the divine stalk the lands. All manner of deities, demi-gods and Devas meddle in the affairs of mortals. The lands of Ind are rich and fertile, and ruled by aristocratic overlords from their gorgeous palaces. Yet the people are poor and superstitious, and revere a staggering array of gods and sprits, leaving offerings and saying prayers to them ceaselessly as they go about their day. A deeply sprititual land, its people may seem strangely content to outsiders, but it is just their odd way of dealing with the horrors of life and should not distract the traveler from the perils of this place.
Kislev:
Kislev, sometimes known as the Realm of the Ice Queen or the Land of the Great Bear, is the most northerly Human civilization within the Old World that is not under the complete control of the forces of Chaos. A land known far and wide for having the greatest horsemen in the entire Old World, these tough and determined warriors have an immortal hatred against all that is tainted by Chaos. Unlike the lands of the Empire, Kislev itself is famous for its massive open plains stretching as far as the "eye can see." Such unbroken land of endless fields and frozen tundra is the most perfect home for a nation of people to be born in the saddle.
Nippon:
The Empire of Nippon demands much of its samurai: service to one's lord, service to one's clan, and service to one's Emperor. Bushido's staunch and unyielding code of conduct binds samurai to duty, strengthening their character and defining their choices. Eight great clans form the heart of Nippon's culture. Each is defined by its own principles, values, and agendas. Each sees the Code of Bushido in its own way. Each seeks to serve the Emperor with its own unique talents.
Norsca:
Norsca is inhabited by savage and ferocious humans known as Norscans; fur-clad raiders and warriors of hairy brawn who sail the seas in fearsome longships in order to unleash their devastating fury upon the south. Warlike and cruel, the Norse are the very epitome of the Warriors of Chaos, devoted servants of the Dark Gods and the scourge of the south and west. The brutality of their raids is felt as far as the Witch King's baleful domain of Naggaroth and the mysterious lands of exotic Cathay. The Norsemen are without exception great warriors; blessed with incredible strength at arms and fearsome demeanors. It is the dream of nearly every member of this fierce people to ascend to the ranks of the greatest warriors - to become mighty Champions of Chaos and bear the dread marks of their gods' ruinous favour.
Sartosa, the Pirate Kingdom:
Sartosa is an island off the coast of Tilea which is home ot a ruthless pirate-prince and the criminal empire they have created. The prince commands a sizable navy of pirate ships commanded by captains loyal to him and they often raid the coastal settlements of Tilea, Estalia, the Border Princes and Araby.
Tilea:
The ancient land of Tilea lies to the south of the Empire, far from the taint of Chaos. It is a warm and hospitable land of plains and rolling hills. Tileas is made up of a number of city-states ruled by wealthy Merchant Princes, who constantly bicker among themselves. Due to the lack of unity, Tilea holds no national standing army, and therefore she has become a land of mercenaries and sellswords, who come from all over the Old World looking for employment.
Languages: The languages of Mankind are as numerous as the varous nations of Mankind.
Adventurers: Men aren't afraid to try anything, and Human adventurers are the most audacious, daring and ambitious. Men can earn glory by amassing power, wealth, and fame. More than any other race, Mankind champions causes of not only individual nations, but the gamut of Order and Chaos.
Human Species Traits
| +2 to one (1) Ability Score | Human characters get a +2 bonus to one (1) ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature. |
| Medium | As Medium-sized creatures, Humans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. |
| Normal Speed | Humans have a base speed of 30 feet. |
| Nationality | Humans take a nationality at creation. This nationality grants various bonuses and penalites to the newly created character. In exchange, Human characters do not receive a bonus skill rank. This nationality may have a subdivision such as a specific province/county that also grants its own bonuses and penalties. |
| Bonus Feat | Humans select one (1) extra feat at 1st level. |