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Far to the east of Historica lie the Great Wings, a series of vast lands that stretch for hundreds of miles, surrounded by innumerable smaller islands. Many centuries ago, the Pinnothen fled the calamity of civil war in their home in the land that would become Historica and conquered much of this place. They drove out the dark elves that had made their kingdoms there, built on the backs of slaves, and brought their worship of the Eight Children and their aspects (the Pinnothen's understanding of magic) to their new subjects. 1) Champion of the 8 The most elite warriors and magic wielders of the Pinnothen, Champions are considered to be the Children's most favored, and often hold positions of high honor at temples and among noble households. However, they devote their lives to study study and training, rarely intervening in the affairs of the world except in the most dire of circumstances. 2) Chosen Selected early in their youth to become highly versed in the Eight Aspects and their manifestations, Chosen are the most exceptional children of the nobility, trained with the sole purpose of attempting the Eight Trials when they come of age. The few who survive this ordeal are offered places in the Royal Household, to elevate the position of their families and strengthen the power of the ruling bloodline. 3) Officiant of the Eight Trials A master of their respective aspects, Officiants administer the Trials of the Eight to the Chosen. It is a position of honor, but also one of great solemnity, as many Chosen die at the hands of the Officiants. It is also a position of great peril, as the Chosen occasionally lose control of the aspects they wield, with disastrous results. 4) Pilgrim of the Eight Paths Like Champions, Pilgrims devote their lives to the study and application of the aspects. Unlike the Champions, Pilgrims do this while practicing a lifestyle of asceticism and travelling the length and breadth of the Great Wings. They are greeted with reverence in the towns they visit, and have been known to intervene with their abilities for the good of the commoners. 5) Heavy Phalanx The primary strength of the Pinnothen standing army, the long spears and stout armor of the phalanx, bolstered by their rigid discipline and zealous conviction, have kept the lands of the Great Wings secure for millennia. None withstood their advance during the Settling, and few have posed a serious threat to them in the time since. 6) Pinnothen Voicecaster Highly skilled in the Aspect of the Song, the Voicecasters issue commands at the front lines of the battlefield and relay information across great distances on behalf of the high commanders. The mastery of their aspect allows them to be heard above the chaos, and some of the greatest voicecasters have been known to compel their enemies to lay down their arms with the power of their words alone. 7) Order of the Hammer Acolyte The Order of the Hammer is devoted to building, forging, and crafting, though an acolyte is not allowed to do any of that until they've proven their knowledge of all the materials the order favors. Some acolytes spend years in the order before they're allowed to construct their own hammer. 8) Order of the Pestle Healer Superior The Order of the Pestle deals in the creation of medicines, foods, and even some poisons (though this knowledge is reserved for only a trusted few). The Healer Superior carries an over-sized pestle as a symbol of his rank, and spends much of his time teaching and demonstrating for less-experienced adherents in one of the order's many temples. 9) Order of the Stars Wayfinder The Order of the Stars studies everything to do with the skies, from meteorology to navigation. The wayfinders are renowned for their ability to find safe courses through even the most treacherous regions. They are invaluable to the captains of ships that brave the unpredictable swells and jagged sea rocks of the Shattered Coast 10) Forgotten Emissary A high elf dignitary from the Mystic Isles, sent to the kings' court on the Old Shores, before the Kinsunder. He followed the Pinnothen in their flight from the Faithless, then again across the shifting sea to the Great Wings, and has served as an observer and an adviser to every successive monarch in the millennia that followed. 11) Khashdin Animator The Khashdin are not born, hatched, or summoned like other creatures of the world. They are first shaped from stones and clay, and then granted life through means known only to the Animators. They grow slowly over centuries by consuming the minerals around them, some becoming so vast that they can be mistaken for geographical features. 12) Khashdin Pyre Carver As important to the life of the Khashdin as their creation by an animator is their transition from the moving stone back to the living stone of the earth. Pyre Carvers prepare the place of a Khashdin's death, where they return their spirits to the ground and become one with the stone again. Some among the Khashdin's few visitors mistake the figures that line the halls of their cities for statues, when they are in fact the honored dead. 13) Khashdin Axe Bearer The great leaders of the Khashdin are, invariably, colossal figures, slow-moving, and often unable to fit through even some of the grandest gateways. Thus, they often deal with outsiders by way of emissaries. These envoys, by bearing the axe of their ruler, show that they speak with his authority in all matters of trade, diplomacy, and war. 14) Eastern Drow Stone Crusher The Drow and the Khashdin, each living primarily beneath the surface of the earth, have been enemies for time immemorial. While the Drow prefer to combat the Khashdin through guile and sorcery, occasions sometimes call for a less subtle form of confrontation. 15) Eastern Drow Subversive When the Pinnothen first began the Settling, the Drow were at the height of their power in the Great Wings. Now relegated to a few strongholds among the Featherstones in the east, they have been readying themselves for centuries to retake the land that was once theirs. Subversives work in the shadows to sow seeds of discord among their enemies, making the land fertile for their reconquest. 16) Flatwater Fisherman The eastern reaches of the continent are broad, rolling grasslands, crisscrossed by ancient forests and vast, shifting river deltas. Hundreds of small communities live along the banks of each river, the fishermen and merchants plying their trades from atop agile catamarans. 17) Shattered Coast Slaver Their kingdoms overthrown by the first Favored King after he led a slave revolt, most of the ancient slavers were hunted down and forced to capitulate or be destroyed. A clever few, though, have managed to evade the Pinnothen for generations, hidden among the rugged cliffs and deep, rain-soaked valleys of the Shattered Coast. 18) Ancestor March The tradition of the march dates back to the Old Shores, before the Settling. When times are most desperate, the wizened elder warriors of a city don the black funerary armor and go out to stand between death and their descendants.
