The Kranj
Flavour : Sword and Sandals
Tropes: Desert nomads, Cat People, Slavers, City States
Cultural Motifs: Magreb, Ancient World,
Races: Human, Graal

Classes:
Human
Fighters - Champion, BattleMaster
Rangers - Hunters (Deseret and Mountain specialism), Beastmaster
Cleric - Death, Knowledge, Life, Light, War,Trickery
Bard - Lore
Rogue - Thief, Assassin
Warlock

Graal (Cat People – see separate section)
Fighters – Champion, Battlemaster
Barbarian - Totem Warrior
Rangers - Hunters, Beastmaster
Rogue – Thief, Assassin
Monks – Open Hand, Shadow, Four Elements
Warlock


Kranj is a desert world bounded to the north by the vastness of the Great Waste and to the south by the Sea of Sighs. Agriculture is restricted to narrow bands along the rivers, a few oases and the fertile basin round Lake Mys. These areas support the Dozen Cities each fiercely independent and highly militarized. The result is a web of alliances and political machinations and it is rare indeed when there is not some war going on between one or other of them.
Most Kanj swear allegiance to their Home City and attach the Suffix “of XXX” to their names. Some exist without cities and these individuals often join mercenaries companies or scratch a living out in the dust.
The wastelands are not entirely deserted however they are home to the mysterious Graal a feline race who exist as nomads and take work as caravan guards, mercenaries and guides.
Kranj is brutal and unforgiving. Honor and pride in one's city are part and parcel of the place and captives are quickly slain or sold into bondage. Slavery and brutality are endemic.

Religion in the Kranj is flexible with rashes of new cults coming and going. Most only last a few years and then fade or are reworked with other gods. The cults of Kadman the Ocean and Rassa the Sky are possibly the oldest and best established with temples in each of the Dozen Cities, but religion amongst the Kranj remains a matter of expediency. THe Graal have their own traditions based on The Axiom, but no real established faith as such.
Horses are uncommon and the usual mount is the native Sal a large bipedal lizard. Generally docile and lethargic Sal can be bread for combat and the cities of Tane and Kansor are famed for the ferocity of their Battle Sal.

Water is a valued resource in the Kranj and the “Gift of Water” takes on a ritual and cultural significance creates a temporary alliance that very few would break.
Timber is rare and wooden goods are highly valued (triple cost for wooden items and inlaid veneers and marquetry are often worth more than gold). Sal laminates often take the place of goods that elsewhere would be wooden, So furniture, boats and carts are often made of this rigid strong material known as Jend. The Xeredan Mountains to the West are rich in ores and the region has outstanding metal workers (weapons that elsewhere have wooden parts here will replace those with metal). Buildings are usually stone or baked mud bricks.

The Kranj has existed in roughly this state for hundreds of years but of late a new threat has made itself known. From the Sea of Sighs a new enemy has been raiding the coast and in the season extending up the rivers to burn farmland and kidnap local people. Frog eyed and amphibian in appearance little is known of these raiders, known variously as toads, flat heads and skane.



Unique Race Graal

The Graal

The Graal are a proud feline race. They live in arid and semi-arid regions either in family groups known as prides or as solitary individuals. Largely nomadic they are occasionally found in towns and other larger human settlements where they act as mercenaries for wealthy families or other organizations. In addition they often take temporary work as caravan guards.

Graceful and lithe the Graal are ferocious warriors and have an ancient philosophical tradition they call The Axiom. It is a philosophy that both informs their day to day existence and acts as a form of Religious observance.

Graal Traits
Ability Score increase : Graal receive +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom.
Age: Graal reach maturity in their late teens and live until they are 60 or 70.
Size: similar to Humans but slender Graal average 5 ½ to 6 feet. There is little difference in size between males and females.
Speed: Fleet of foot the Graal base walking speed is 35 feet.
Darkvision: Accustomed to being active during the hours of darkness the Graal can see 60 feet in dim light as it it were daylight and in darkness as if it were dim. Colour blindness is a very common Graal trait as well.
Keen Senses: the Graal have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Feline Grace: The Graal have proficiency in Athletics.
Natural Weapons: The Graal's hands and feet have retractable claws and their teeth reflect their feline ancestry. As such their unarmed hand strikes deal 1d4 slashing damage and their bite deals 1d4 piercing.

Sal

The typical Kranj beast of burden.
Appearance : Bipedal lizard. They look like bulky smooth skinned Velociraptors but with smaller heads and heaver limbs. There forelimbs are foreshortened much like a T-Rex. They come in numerous colours from pale cream to coal black and often sport spots or stripes depending on their bloodlines. Breeding Sals is a serious undertaking and thoroughbreds can be worth hundreds of gps.
Size: Typically standing 6-8 feet tall and about 9-12 feet long without their tails which may be another 5-8 feet in length. They range from medium to large in size.
AC : 12
HP: 21 (4d8 +3)
Speed: 60
Str: 16 (+3)     Dex: 12 (+1)   Con : 12 (+1)   Int: 2 (-4)    Wis:  9 (0)   Cha:  5 (-3)

Senses – Passive Perception 10

Action
Talons – Melee Weapon +3 to Hit, one target
Hit : 8 (2d6+1) slashing damage
Bite  - Melee Weapon +3 to hit , on target
Hit : - 12 (3d6+2) Piercing

Battle Sal
Size: Typically standing 8 feet tall and about 12 feet long without their tails which may be another 5-8 feet in length. They are large sized
AC : 12
HP: 26 (5d8 +3)
Speed: 60
Str: 18 (+4)     Dex: 12 (+1)   Con : 12 (+1)   Int: 2 (-4)    Wis:  9 (0)   Cha:  5 (-3)

Senses – Passive Perception 12

Action
Talons – Melee Weapon +5 to Hit, one target
Hit : 10 (2d8+1) slashing damage
Bite  - Melee Weapon +5 to hit , on target
Hit : - 16 (3d8+2) Piercing

I'd personally remove at least one, possibly two, river systems outright. Shift several tributaries into wadis, sprinkle a few more oases, and shift a mountain range upon a coast.

That way there is a shift into an actual need for caravanserai and desert exploration. As it stands it looks more like Iberia with a strong emphasis on riparian & coastal shipping. These are things for which it is worth killing every competitor. Less environmental mutual threat, thus less onus on hospitality and curious bed fellows. Those rich stakes tends to consolidate power faster than the ever shifting alliances upon nomadic sands.

You also need way more Sabhas, oasis (or wadi, or cistern) towns.

Quote from: Opaopajr;790097I'd personally remove at least one, possibly two, river systems outright. Shift several tributaries into wadis, sprinkle a few more oases, and shift a mountain range upon a coast.

That way there is a shift into an actual need for caravanserai and desert exploration. As it stands it looks more like Iberia with a strong emphasis on riparian & coastal shipping. These are things for which it is worth killing every competitor. Less environmental mutual threat, thus less onus on hospitality and curious bed fellows. Those rich stakes tends to consolidate power faster than the ever shifting alliances upon nomadic sands.

You also need way more Sabhas, oasis (or wadi, or cistern) towns.

Yeah I tend to agree looking back.
The way I do these is I randomly generate a coastline then I kind of make a land out of it. Then I try to think of a background and riff on it.
So I did the map last night the rest this afternoon.
Idea turns out doesn't always suit the geography
When I was looking for ideas scannign stuff on the web I saw this -


and decided on desert cat people ... I will revisit the map and shift some bits about

Cool, I'm totally on board with that style of creation: sketch an outline, get inspired towards a more detailed form, go back and add or remove sketch lines towards the fleshed concept.

Nice picture. How and where would you put a Sahel (Savannah?) for these Graal?

I have trouble picturing them in too arid a region unless:
a) they went pastoral and are based around animal husbandry,
b) there's an neat large supply of meat upon the desert (new desert herd animal?),
c) they are omnivorous cat people, just like humans!, which sadly discards a lot of their coolness, IMO,
d) they are based around desert mountain goats and antelope species (ibex, etc.) and are thus nomadic because they must travel from mountain range to mountain range, like points of light islands, to sate their warm blooded appetite for meat.

Actually, now that I think of it, I like this idea of little mountain "island" clusters better than the Sahel. Mountain cat people prides forced to migrate for more meat as an evolutionary point sounds way cooler. Makes for interesting nomadic evolutionary basis, and makes conflict/cooperation with animal husbandry humans even more fun. Perhaps native Graal Disadvantage on animal husbandry?

Quote from: Opaopajr;790122Cool, I'm totally on board with that style of creation: sketch an outline, get inspired towards a more detailed form, go back and add or remove sketch lines towards the fleshed concept.

Nice picture. How and where would you put a Sahel (Savannah?) for these Graal?

I have trouble picturing them in too arid a region unless:
a) they went pastoral and are based around animal husbandry,
b) there's an neat large supply of meat upon the desert (new desert herd animal?),
c) they are omnivorous cat people, just like humans!, which sadly discards a lot of their coolness, IMO,
d) they are based around desert mountain goats and antelope species (ibex, etc.) and are thus nomadic because they must travel from mountain range to mountain range, like points of light islands, to sate their warm blooded appetite for meat.

Actually, now that I think of it, I like this idea of little mountain "island" clusters better than the Sahel. Mountain cat people prides forced to migrate for more meat as an evolutionary point sounds way cooler. Makes for interesting nomadic evolutionary basis, and makes conflict/cooperation with animal husbandry humans even more fun. Perhaps native Graal Disadvantage on animal husbandry?

Actually I really like the idea of them moving from Kopi to Kopi like lions on the Serengeti. I had previously pictured them as Masai like leading herds of Sal and bleeding and milking them for food.

Quote from: jibbajibba;790125Actually I really like the idea of them moving from Kopi to Kopi like lions on the Serengeti. I had previously pictured them as Masai like leading herds of Sal and bleeding and milking them for food.

Interesting, so that would be explanation B) new large supply of desert meat, big Sal lizards. No milk though, I would expect. What do these Sal eat? Why so large? Why the need to be bipedal?

Might I suggest seasonal brine fly lakes, like Mono Lake? That would be an enormous food source, and be an excuse to travel ones desert lizards (like whales eating krill). They'd feed like the seasonal Mono Lake sea gulls who run open mouth to swallow as many flies as possible, except much larger. Which would also explain their bursts of speed and potential as a mount.

Quote from: Opaopajr;790135Interesting, so that would be explanation B) new large supply of desert meat, big Sal lizards. No milk though, I would expect. What do these Sal eat? Why so large? Why the need to be bipedal?

Might I suggest seasonal brine fly lakes, like Mono Lake? That would be an enormous food source, and be an excuse to travel ones desert lizards (like whales eating krill). They'd feed like the seasonal Mono Lake sea gulls who run open mouth to swallow as many flies as possible, except much larger. Which would also explain their bursts of speed and potential as a mount.

Yeah totally wasn't thinking about them not being mammals

I iwll have a few more thoughts.

Quote from: jibbajibba;790105and decided on desert cat people ... I will revisit the map and shift some bits about

Cool thread, and thanks for the posting the picture, gives me an idea for a desert totem barbarian culture.

They could drain the Sal blood instead of traditional milking, there is precedent for this, though I can't remember who exactly does that with their cattle.

I find the Graal stats a bit boring and uninspired. I've seen a lot of catpeople for D&D and it's always + on dex, fast, perceptive, athletic, "raw claws".

The claws are really a very situational feature rarely worth using. On the other hand I find the same damage as a dagger when used untrained to be quite a bit of damage. Those must be some seriously big claws. I'd just leave it at letting them deal slashing or bludgeoning damage.

I'd further remove one of the proficiency features and instead add one or two features revolving around some other element of them that isn't "they are cat-people! Peoplecats!


As I've said, there's a lot of cat people out there, these should have something about them that piques interest and differentiates them.

Bleeding a reptile for raw food seems dangerous in disease terms. Just like poultry & reptiles today, salmonella would be a health concern (in a "behind the screen" world building sense). Maybe reserve it as a function Graal digestion can do, but carries potentially lethal risk for Humans.

As to the Graal:
1) Just about every other race gets +2 DEX. And Gold Roger is right about the sameness of cat people of late. Shake me up.
2) Understand the claws, but yeah... Shake me up.
3) Their life span is too pat with Humans. Does this strengthen Humanities bond with them versus longer lived Humanoids? Why not shorter lives, but breed faster?
4) The Speed, the Darkvision, and the Keen Senses are all the same as Wood Elves (and who knows what else). Shake me up.

The Keen Senses are especially disappointing because Legend of the Crystal Shards free monster .pdf has "X gains +5 to all ability checks to detect hidden creatures." That's way more interesting than gaining a proficiency. It challenges chargen, as not all classes have easy access to Perception skill.

Further, if you read the Proficiency paragraph under the Background section, you'll note that any skill overlap from two different sources just gives players a wild card proficiency of that type. If two Tools overlap, choose any additional Tool for the second; if two Skills overlap, chose any additional Skill for the second. Generosity in Proficiencies WILL become a design problem due to these Overlap rules. Tighten the leash, NOW.

How about split the difference and use: "Graal gains ADV on passive Perception checks and all ability checks to detect hidden creatures." No Skill, still powerful, opens up chargen space, thematic.

It was the Masai (as mentioned earlier) who drank the blood of their cattle mixed with milk (I believe it was their only way of getting salt into their diet) but I'm sceptical it could provide a principle source of food for a carnivore.

Of course if you go with the idea of moving between brine lakes, then maybe a principle source of food could be brine shrimp, smoked and dried and carried on the move.  Possibly combine that with eggs laid by their herd animals and boiled or pickled for preservation.  (Do cats ever eat eggs?)

I'm not entirely convinced however that large bipedal lizards feeding on brine flies is that likely.  It seems a far better ecological niche for a flying animal that can both catch them over water and easily migrate between locations.  Or an aquatic or amphibious animal that lay dormant in periods of low food availability, such as a cold blooded lizards.   Maybe the principle food sources for the herd animals could be hiberating lizards that swarm to feed on brine flies and shrimp or birds eggs from birds that nest on the shores.

Another option would be to have the large bipedal lizards as principle mounts and herding animals - think a combination of dogs and horses in function, and have the main herd animals being smaller and the natural prey of the large lizards (like dogs and sheep).  Smaller animals could more plausibly feed on a multitude of food sources.  (Maybe as well as brine lakes they could feed on the occasional salt bush, or a large termite mound that the herders could break into).

Being small and less valuable individually, it would also be less of a problem to slaughter the occasional animal - especially if they grow and reproduce quickly.

Quote from: Opaopajr;790257Bleeding a reptile for raw food seems dangerous in disease terms. Just like poultry & reptiles today, salmonella would be a health concern (in a "behind the screen" world building sense). Maybe reserve it as a function Graal digestion can do, but carries potentially lethal risk for Humans.

As to the Graal:
1) Just about every other race gets +2 DEX. And Gold Roger is right about the sameness of cat people of late. Shake me up.
2) Understand the claws, but yeah... Shake me up.
3) Their life span is too pat with Humans. Does this strengthen Humanities bond with them versus longer lived Humanoids? Why not shorter lives, but breed faster?
4) The Speed, the Darkvision, and the Keen Senses are all the same as Wood Elves (and who knows what else). Shake me up.

The Keen Senses are especially disappointing because Legend of the Crystal Shards free monster .pdf has "X gains +5 to all ability checks to detect hidden creatures." That's way more interesting than gaining a proficiency. It challenges chargen, as not all classes have easy access to Perception skill.

Further, if you read the Proficiency paragraph under the Background section, you'll note that any skill overlap from two different sources just gives players a wild card proficiency of that type. If two Tools overlap, choose any additional Tool for the second; if two Skills overlap, chose any additional Skill for the second. Generosity in Proficiencies WILL become a design problem due to these Overlap rules. Tighten the leash, NOW.

How about split the difference and use: "Graal gains ADV on passive Perception checks and all ability checks to detect hidden creatures." No Skill, still powerful, opens up chargen space, thematic.

Like I said the bleeding livestock idea comes straight from the Masai.

I agree they are cat people I think you need to go with the cliche though if someone selects a cat person they expect to get these sorts of bonuses. I initially thought of just lifting woodelves stats and reskinning them as cat people

Sure you can do something more radical from the race template but I always come from the roleplay/physics side of things with what would a cat person be like rather than what can I do to to create an interesting. You try to insert the interesting bit into their culture so having them follow no gods but a tradition that feeds into Monks and Ki powers was my approach here. Can you mix Bedouin with some kind of psuedo-Eastern Philosophy . It all has to be a bit cliched so its immediately grokkable.

You could stand up a cat culture that were charismatic and sensual and play up their "sexiness" (see Cat in Red Dwarf) or you could have cats that were sly and untrustworthy with no morality at all and make them very smart (kind of Slinky Malinky meets the Cheshire cat) but all of them are kind of cliched and this one was just the first one I thought of.
You can easily come up with weirder stuff just have to watch the line between playable and weird.

I am going to kick off a 5e campaign shortly and get my players to pick one of the 4 micro settings I posted up so we will see which they plump for.