Races of Andurun Update, Part 2

Emp (Wisps)

Lifespan: 160 years, roughly

Age of maturity: 30 years

Common skin color: deep tan, brown or bronze, weathered and ruddy

Common eye color: light brown to near black or lighter green shades

Common hair color: any shade of brown to gray, white or silver when older

Common Height: 4’ (male or female with little variation)

Common Weight: 80 lbs. (male), 70 lbs. (female)

Language: Araban (their native tongue)

Common Male Names: Vice, Serge, Aubrey, Taran, Gram or Gand

Common Female Names: Liete, Jeb, Nyssa, Amielle, Tryst or Kara

Common Tribe Names: Emberlez, Rogodda, Nefalshi or Arrudara

            Dwelling in high cliffs or mountain bluffs, the Emp are a race of small, nimble beings. Emp are light with wiry frames and hair covered bodies, making it easier for them to live and move in the regions where their people have settled. An Emp has a wild mane of hair that covers their head and neck, along with a fur clad tail that is solely for added balance and nothing more. If an Emp loses their tail they also lose a certain degree of dexterity permanently. Emp have small fangs for biting and secretions on their hands and feet, not unlike finger nails, that allow them to cling to sheer surfaces with their bare extremities. They may move on rough, sheer surfaces at a rate equal to their walking speed and only have strength enough to support themselves and their personal equipment. Long ago the Emp carried their young like this, in pouches where the young would gestate for some months before being able to live outside the pouch. An Emp has strong legs, capable of leaping twice their height from a run, even vertically. An Emp does not wear boots or gloves of any kind.

            Emp are considerate of other races. They have a good tolerance of others not like them and give strangers the benefit of the doubt most times. Emp generally only speak their own language but some have learned the common tongue to communicate with the other races that they might happen across. An Emp village is a thing of wonder to other races, built into sharp, vertical cliffs with narrow bridges and rope ladders to get from one place to another. Though there are no shops of any kind among the Emp they often open their bartering ways to outsiders. They have a good tolerance to being named Wisps, a nickname that they have had no luck shrugging off in their travels. Emp villages are run by an elder that acts as mayor and constable or problem solver, seeing to public disputes and making decisions for the good of the village. There is no militia in an Emp village, or church of any faith, though Emp revere nature almost like a religion. Emp males and females hold equal place in the society, though they often have varying roles. Males are hunters and traders, going beyond the borders of their villages to other Emp villages or even other Humanoid settlements, while females tend young, plant gardens, tailor clothes and work to upkeep the village itself. Unions between Emp involve lengthy courting followed with parental, or even village approval. Most Emp consider themselves a smaller part of one large community, so any village in danger will find itself being aided by any other villages near to it.

            Compared to Humans: Emp, in Human eyes, are barbarians. Dwelling in primitive villages far from highways or trade routes, the Emp seem almost xenophobic to those who know little or nothing of them. Their diminutive appearance and simple way of dressing does little to dispel this misconception. Wisps, as Humans call them, are believed to be slow in understanding or grasping Human notions, but this is also a misconception. The Emp are simply unfamiliar with such a demanding lifestyle, and find the idea of commerce alien. Even Emp who have lived among Humans for a long while do not creep out from under the shadow of this old belief. Despite that, Emp and Humans have a fairly good relationship.

            Emp History: Having once dwelt among the Elves in the pristine forests of Sylvanri, the Emp have no written or oral history to recall such times, as they spanned back almost to the Cataclysm. It is thought by the sages that the Emp did live among the Elves even after the ruin of the 1^st Age, but sought their own lands shortly after the Elves first set sail into the Pearl Ocean for eastern lands. They traveled west and found the fertile lands surrounding the Deborah Cliff to be good land for them to settle into. It was a long migration, with small factions leaving their native land every decade or so, knowing full well that once they escaped Sylvanri the Watchers would never allow them to return. Between the years of 320-419 of the 2^nd Age of the Emp found new homelands and new allies in the form of Dwarves, and then at length Humans. Humans settled the Morning Mist Lake south of the Deborah Cliff little more than 60 years after the Exodus, as the sages named it, ended. The Emp, or Wisps, proved to be invaluable guides or Rangers in the rugged and wild lands of the south, seeming to take to cliffs and foothills and mountains with so much ease. It is known that around 600 of the 2^nd Age some of the Emp traveled into the Iron Keep Mountains and there created secluded villages of their own, finding some small success in their labors, especially with willing Dwarven allies lurking close at hand. They also labored to create ideal regions for their people along the Kanaron Mountains as well, settling near to the Desert of Ashes between the years 645-650 of the 2^nd Age. They prospered until The Power over the Mountain raised Verisdod Castle in the Kanaron and enslaved the Progeny, who were once friends to the Emp, as the races traded for goods and food stuffs. By the year 1390 there were no Emp left to occupy the Kanaron Mountains, having fled in terror from the Power Over the Mountain. Since that time they have been resigned to remain idle near the Deborah Cliff, seemingly ignored by most of the more industrious races existing all around them.