Faolkin
The faolkin are a group of ilks descended from the macro-faolkin, who were in turn descended from ancestral wolves, specifically the Alùthair.
Appearance
All faolkin share a canine-like appearance with a mostly humanoid body, save for their clearly doggish head, tail, and extremities with claws and pawpads.
History
Elevation and evolution
Around the 1200th year of the II Cycle, the first macro-faolkin rise from the wolves somewhere around the coasts of Hóradur. Early macro-faolkin practiced Proto-Macro-Faolic culture, characterised by a hunter-gatherer lifestyle emphasising familial bonds. The first evidence of agricultural activity is evidenced from adzes and hoes dated to about 1000 years after faolkin elevation.
At some point early in the III Cycle, the macro-faolkin split into two distinct groups: those who remained became the faolkin, while those who left for Andinor became the almarkin. Faolkin culture became distinct from that of their cousins because they did not venture into early thaumaturgy, and remained not very affected by the talent radiating from the Tower. As such, faoil and brunns remain low-average-talent ilks into the modern day, the only exception being the ecricks. The separation between these last three came to be very gradually and entirely through geographical separation, with brunns being those closer to the Night and ecricks closer to the Tower.
First cities
The first faol city in recorded history was the Primitive Budic-speaking city of Böödu, the namesake of the language, which in the modern day only survives in rubble as a historical curiosity. It was a mid-sized, prosperous city, and what led to its destruction is still debated amongst scholars to this day. The leading theory is that the city was burned to the ground by a rival army, probably from the nearby city of Töysibina, which still survives to the modern day.
During this time (early III Cycle), the High Kingdom of Almadur began a campaign of conquest around Andinor, from which most of Hóradur was spared simply because there were good trading relationships between the faoil and the almur.
Sailing age
During the early IV Cycle, seafaring became more viable thanks to advancements in sailing technology, mostly led by the kanar, whom invented steamboats. The various faol city-states saw this as an opportunity to increase their economic profit by expanding their trading routes outside the continent. In doing so, they founded many trading settlements around their best partners, the most important of which being in Lea and Hedron. The settlements in Lea were the only ones to actually expand enough to be considered fully-fledged cities, with their own aristocratic order and food major production and trade. With the passage of time, the faoil living in Lea also became ethnically distinct, taking the patterns and proportions of painted dogs.
Faol
 | |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Kin | Faolkin |
| Inner talent | Low to none |
| Natal lands | Hóradur, parts of moonward Lea |
The faoil (sg. faol, pronounced like "fell") are the prototypical faolkin. They comprise the majority population of Hóradur, and are well known for their dog- or wolf-like appearances. They are the least innately talented kin in their natal lands, but despite this they are a crafty lot. Faoil mostly live through farming and husbandry, with the urbanite population working manual jobs, usually at textile mills and factories. They are one of the three ilks to enter colonisation through seafaring at the beginning of the IV Cycle, along with the hashka and the kanar.
Appearance
Ethnically, faoil tend to be similar to other canines in their range. Those living in Lea, for example, are similar to painted dogs, while those living in the nightward parts of Hóradur appear closer to wolves. Closer to the boundaries between faol and almar populations, they present more mixed appearances.
Faoil are remarkably varied in what fur regards. Their patterns can go from solid monochrome to vivid polychromatic coats, though their palette is restrained to colours commonly found in mammals, not unlike dogs.
Culture
Faoil are mostly known to be a gregarious and passionate people, making time for leisure whenever work doesn't take the priority. Given their low average inner talent, they tend to live pastoralist, fishing/sailing or working-urbanite lives. As such, with the advent of sailing, they have become a central part of the trading world of Álm, frequently serving as raw material and food exporters.
Faoil do not form large, cohesive nations so much as they form areas of few city-states with common cultural elements. These areas frequently blend into each other and as such are difficult to separate cleanly. Those with the most power are the portuary city states, such as Aldouare (Aldemhar), Lockhant (Lochshant) and Elivar (Elaomhar), which are important economic centres for the entire continent of Hóradur.
Faol familial units tend to be large and interconnected−a typical close family could occupy a handful of close residences−and relatives don't tend to move too far from one another. This is, of course, unless some external force (such as a job opportunity) forces them to.
Languages
There are two large dialect continuums within the faolsphere: the unmoonward Budic and moonward Clennian languages. Both are intermediately mutually intelligible with one another, as they ultimately come from the same Proto-Macro-Faolic source.
Brunn
| |
| Other names | Arðior (pl. Arðiorin) (Kernish) |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Kin | Faolkin |
| Inner talent | Low |
| Natal lands | Arðiodur |
The brunns are faolkin living on the nightward side of the Arðifer Mountains. As nightly beings, they possess a pair of horns between their ears, which are involved in extrasensory perception to some capacity. They are the second least talented faolkin on average, with the bulk of their minimal talent being derived from the shade of the Night rather than the light of the Tower. Brunns are excellent hunters and herders, mostly subsisting on a diet of dairy and meat with the occasional gathered or bought greens; the sheer cold of their environment is unsuited for agriculture.
Distinguishing features
Apart from their noticeable horns, brunns are distinguished by their huskier, thicker builds. Their fur tends to be quite dark, and is usually restricted to a couple solid colours, with more variegated patterned coats being restricted to those with some faol content in their blood.
Culture
Brunns live in small communities of various families that travel together in a nomadic arrangement. They do this in search of wildlife to hunt, and they don't concern themselves much with agriculture. The very few sedentary clans exist mostly along the coast, sustaining themselves through fishing and herding. Common herding animals include muskoxen, reindeer, and small birds like quails and partridges, while preferred wild hunts include wild boar, moose, capercaillies, and, in coastal regions with access to the sea, seals and various cold-water fish.
Today, the brunn have expanded across much of Arðiodur and nightward Hóradur and Andinor. They are mostly isolated, but have a close connection with the vidur due to them both being targets of a genocide by the High Kingdom of Almadur. This caused them to form the Médrigan, a resistance federation of various vidar ports and brunn families that, for a time, fought against the Kingdom. They held on against all odds for a period of 66 years but ultimately lost the war, and retreated to the Vid Sea and Arðifer Mountains. The bitterness towards almur can still be felt in the modern era.
Languages
There are three major dialect continuums in Arðiodur, all of them belonging to the Brunnic branch of the Macro-Faolic languages: Brunnish, Turdur and Corrish.
Ecrick
| |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Kin | Faolkin |
| Inner talent | Mid |
| Natal lands | Darran Isles |
Ecricks, the native ilk of the small Darran Isles, are appropriately small for their location. They are half-sized faolkin, with long, almar-like ears but short bodies. Their smaller size apparently concentrates the talent received from the Tower, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to corrupt their tendentially amenable behaviour. Ecricks appear similar to faoil, but are about half their size on average. Their ears are long and pointed (though not as long as those of almar).
Culture
Ecricks are similar to other faolkin in their tendentially warm demeanour and tight family bonds. They speak a local dialect of Budic recognisable for its lack of vowel length distinction.