hollowworld.uk

Diverse and innumerable, humans are an omnipresent across the Sunken Lands. Where there is a spit of land large enough for someone to stand with both feet, a human has likely been there. Perhaps not for a thousand years, but there is not a grain of sand on this world that has not known the tread of a human shoe.

Humankind & Ages

Humans live for three ages.

What do Alteran humans look like?

Identical to Earth humans.

Do they have any special mechanics?

If you commit to playing a human that is under 6' tall, you get 1 Goodwill. If they are between 5'0 and 5'7, you get 2 Goodwill. There is no mechanical advantage to being tall.

Can I play someone who doesn't look like they're from our world's Europe?

Yes. In the long ago, Hollowworld had a rule that you could only play someone that looked like how we used to collectively imagine western europeans looked in the medieval age, i.e. you couldn't play a Japanese guy. That isn't the case anymore. Some human cultures may have an aesthetic ideal or be predominantly made up of one ethnicity, but you can find people of all shapes, sizes, and colors within any human culture on Altera.

ANHALD

For as long as there have been humans, there has been a push from some to unite them under a single banner. Or at least, for one banner to fly higher than all the rest, and for all the rest to be subjugated beneath it.

Anhald was the last great human empire. Before it, there were the Lavoyards; before Lavoyard, there was Arcturus.

An individual is known as an Anhalder, a group is known as Anhalders, and something like or of Anhald would be described as Anhalder. They speak a language known as Rede, but there are a learned few that can also speak Lavoy and Arcturian. Rede is fantasy German, Lavoy is fantasy French, and Arcturian is fantasy Latin. Old Arcturian, an ancient language long forgotten, shares some words with Arcturian (and therefore Latin) but has no real world equivalent.

Once upon a time all Anhalders were ruled by a mighty Kaiser, but those days have been gone for generations now and all that remains of that empire is its name. Anhalders traditionally worshipped Ignis Synnove, some extremists believing that the Lodestar was the only true god and all others were false idols who misled the hearts of others.

Anhalders hold knighthood and martial ideals in high esteem. Being overweight, indulging in too much vice, being inathletic, and so on would be seen as debaucherous and a moral failing by most traditional Anhalders.

KALTLAND

Kaltlanders are a subculture of Anhald. An individual is known as a Kaltlander, a group is known as Kaltlanders, and something like or of Kaltland would be described as Kaltic. They speak a distinct language, Kaltic, but the languages are so structurally similar and share so many common words that the two cultures can understand each other if both speakers are sober and paying attention.

Where most Anhalders lived first within the same fertile valley, Kaltlanders were located across tall and bitter mountains. Kaltlanders have a highly urbanized culture, most living in and around a single large city known as Queensport - exacerbating the differences in culture, Queensport was subjugated in especially brutal fashion by proto-Anhalders in the early days of its empire.

What makes Kaltlanders unique is twofold: their different lifestyles, and their art. Kaltlanders are accustomed to living in cold and extreme environments, where things like ice fishing and sunless days during the darkest depths of winter at the norm. They also developed a distinct artstyle where the height and size of an object in the painting represents its significance, a trope not otherwise present in Anhalder art.