Physical Characteristics

Althought rather short the Bae'urgh are very human-like in their appearance. They move from appearing like elderly humans when they are young toward the appearance of human children as they age. The wisdom and intelligence in the eyes of such "children" is often the only indication of their true nature.

Build: Average for their height.

Coloring: An adult Bae’urgh has skin of a nut brown with eyes and hair (those that have any) also typically of varying shades of brown.

Endurance: Average at adulthood, improving as they age.

Height: Bae’urgh attain a height of 4’6” (± d6) at adulthood, from that point on they begin to shrink as they age. For every decade the Bae’urgh lives past adulthood (age 50) they shrink about 1”.

Lifespan: Bae’urgh typically live for about 250 years although some have been known to reach 300. Adulthood is attained at about age 50 and that is the age at which the elders may allow a gnome to leave the community – though strange is the gnome who chooses to do so. Age for a Bae’urgh is rarely an issue. Most Bae’urgh have attained knowledge of longevity or even immortality magic long before they have shrunk to extreme old age. Another part of the strange magic of the Bae’urgh is that they seem to have an attunement to longevity and immortality magic. No such magic when cast by the Bae’urgh upon himself, has ever failed on a Bae’urgh over the age of 200.

Resistance: Average to high

Special Abilities: Bae’urgh have a natural ability to sense magic, dark vision (lesser) and the ability to camouflage themselves and their clothing to avoid detection. As mentioned they also have a natural facility with magic.

Other Factors

Demeanor: Quiet at all times but only the foolish consider the Bae'urgh timid. Among their own they are fairly casual and relaxed. Among others they strive to remain unnoticed unless there is an absolute need to step forward. At those times the Bae’urgh seem to possess a a commanding presence completely at odds with their physical stature. All Bae’urgh walk with the sure knowledge and confidence that the “Currents of the Arcane” as they call them are their birthright and that they stand united as a people. The quiet strength of character that they possess is something that defines them as a people and at the same time it is something that nearly all of the peoples of Whent misconstrue to be a sign of weakness. A point a view the Bae’urgh rarely bother to dispel.

Prejudices: Generally none but they pity ignorance and have little tolerance for those who are ignorant and are capable of remedying that ignorance but choose not to. Those who presume power due to their physical stature also are distained. Bae’urgh distain typically manifests as the object of distain being ignored to the greatest extent possible. If ordered by some hulking guard to run some errand a Bae’urgh would likely agree and then proceed along as if the guard had said nothing. Even if the Bae’urgh could have leveled the guard with a twitch of his finger he wouldn’t. It just isn’t worth the effort.

Culture

Clothing & Decoration: The Bae’urgh ability to camouflage their clothing makes for a very interesting take on personal decoration. Many Bae’urgh very much enjoy wearing the finest clothing and the finest jewelry. Deep rich colors are favored such as navy and royal blue, maroon and forest green and they tend toward bright yellows and ambers for contrast. Jewelry also tends to be of the finest quality. In all things the typical Bae’urgh focuses on quality over quantity and they seem to have a natural knack for avoiding ostentatiousness and accomplishing graceful style.

Of course most people will never notice any of this. When among others the Bae’urgh tends to maintain a camouflage of sorts, muting their finery into drab grays, browns, etc. A particularly observant person might notice that the clothing is sewn particularly well and that, apparently wooden, bracelet is quite well carved, but this only promotes the idea that they are wearing some cast-off clothing hardly worth the time to steal.

The Bae'urgh also hate hats of any sort aside from skullcaps. Their warriors even eschew helmets. The aforementioned skullcaps are, on the other hand, quite common.

Fears & Inabilities: For all of their reclusive tendencies there is actually little that the Bae’urgh fear as a race. They do lack talent for necromantic magic and seem to be particularly vulnerable to its effects. As a result necromancy is rarely practiced and any necromantic threat is handled very respectfully.

Lifestyle: The Bae’urgh have two very distinct faces that they show the world. The first and most natural is the quiet, happy and companionable ease they display when they are safely among family and friends. They are not particularly fond of music or any loud circumstances but a buffet of good finger-foods, chilled juices, various liquors (a passion among these folk) and quiet talk would make for a perfect day among the small hidden enclaves of the Bae’urgh. Communal reading rooms are also a fixture within their hamlets – replacing taverns found elsewhere – and the chance to sit and read amidst the companionable silence of the like-minded is a true pleasure for these folk.

Their villages also reflect both their close connection with the arcane and their quiet style and grace. The beauty of the scent, sight and sound of fire means that every home has a fireplace, but the majority of the Bae’urgh settlements have existed for years untold. Light, where it is needed, is almost certain to be some sort of permanent magic effect and every house uses an enchanted hearthstone for cooking. Small animated creatures – some looking no different from a normal creature, some crafted from fine woods or other natural materials – wander about the community sweeping paths, carting off and mulching garbage and performing the other tasks that keep their small communities in order.

Outside of their communities the Bae’urgh present a very different face. When among strangers the Bae’urgh seek to remain un-remarked upon. They seek protection in anononimity and use disguises, both magical and mundane, to achieve their purposes.

Younger Bae’urgh typically focus on developing physical skills with the sure knowledge that the arcane ability that is their birthright will come in time. By age 100 most Bae’urgh have devoted themselves to scholarly and arcane research and rarely are seen outside of their communities. Those of the Bae’urgh who have extended their lives through magic often leave their community choosing an isolated hidden home for continued research but these masters all have ways of traveling to and from their birth homes. Rare indeed is the attack on one of these quiet communities and ‘efficient’ is the best way to describe the gnomes’ manner of dealing with such. While small the Bae’urgh have by far the largest concentration of accomplished arcane practitioners of any society. Even at the height of their power and cruelty the High Elves never even debated the idea of occupying a Bae’urgh hamlet. It is well known that the Bae’urgh have hidden ways of travel and to attack one hamlet is to attack them all. The Zurrtanni Emperor did, at one foolish drug-besotted point, attempt to occupy a small Bae’urgh hamlet near the Imperial capital. Two full legions and most of the “Emperor’s Own” perished in the attempt before a lethal overdose claimed the Emperor’s life and the legions withdrew. While it has never been confirmed the tiny hamlet of 34 Bae’urgh fielded over 10,000 defenders within an hour after the Emperor gave the order for his legions to march and lost only 7 gnomes – including the one emissary to the Emperor who was beheaded for having the affrontery to suggest that the gnomes would not fall to the Empire.

Marriage Pattern: Bae’urgh are fertile only from about ages 35 to 110 and remain monogamous for the duration of their fertility and childrearing periods. Marriages after this point have no binding authority and scholarship becomes the focal point of most Bae’urgh‘s lives.

Religion: The Bae’urgh have no priests but honor gods and offer respect to all the powers.

HARP Stats

Racial Stat Modifiers

Power

Resistance Bonuses

RACE

Disc.

Endurance

Points

Stamina

Will

Magic

Bae'urgh [Gnome]

-2

+10

+50

+20

Note: the "Disc." column lists the number of Discretionary Points that the player may distribute among the character's stat bonuses. No more than 3 discretionary points may be added to any one stat's bonus.

Racial Talents

The Bae'urgh possess the following Racial Talents:

Adept Learner (Major) - As described in the New/Revised Talents area of this website.

Arcane Adept (High Magic) - As described in the New/Revised Talents area of this website. The Bae'urgh possess a natural talent for the invocation of spells that call upon the magical forces of Ley Lines. Every Bae'urgh is taught the basics of such magics and may freely learn the spells of the High Magic Spell Sphere.

Arcane Ineptitude - Necromancy - As described in the New/Revised Talents area of this website.

Blood Magic - As described in the College of Magic rulebook. Gnomes naturally gain a Blood Magic ability that allows them to emulate the spell Hues. The base form is +10 to stalking and hiding and includes the scaling option Shifting Hues - allowing them to move at 2xBMR without disrupting the spell. They may also invoke the effect without having to touch any object, they may use the ability in any setting and the duration is increased to minutes instead of rounds. Bae'urgh may improve this blood magic ability by purchasing the scaling options as new Blood Magic talents. Once purchased the Bae'urgh must invoke the 'Use Blood Magic - Hues' with all known scaling options (and associated PP cost). They may not choose to invoke the Hues blood magic at lower scaling options as they might with a normal spell.

Dark Vision (Lesser) - As described in the HARP rulebook.

Extended Adolescence (Minor) - As described in the New/Revised Talents area of this website.

Favored Skill Category - As described in the New/Revised Talents area of this website. The Bae'urgh have a natural facility with the arcane which provides them access to the Mystic Arts skill category as a favored skill category.

Sense Magic - As described in the HARP rulebook.

Tap Ambient Mana - As described in the College of Magic rulebook.

Tap Fixed Mana - As described in the College of Magic rulebook.

Additionally the Bae'urgh have a natural facility with life extending magic. Any Bae'urgh casting any spell of this type on themselves gains a modifier to their spellcasting roll equal to half of the character's age. This modifier also applies to any roll to prevent any negative effects from such magic that may effect the character. This modifier is considered to be part of the character's actual die roll and therefore fumbles are nearly impossible and open-ended high rolls are much more likely.

Adolescent Skill Ranks

Bae'urgh characters start with the Bae'urgh adolescent skill develpoment package unless they possess the Changeling talent - in which case they may choose any Adolescent Skill package as provided for in that talent description. (See the Adolescent Skill Development page for a list of all of the available packages.)

Comments and suggestions are solicited and appreciated. Please send them to me at: aranmull@nycap.rr.com.