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Birthright is a Dungeons & Dragons setting (first released in 1995) which attempted to put new life into the "classical" Fantasy Europe type of setting, primarily by integrating politics and the Divine Right of Kings. Players are intended to be the rulers of large realms and receive special powers from their heritage. The backstory of the setting focuses on an ancient battle in which six of the elder gods battled their corrupt brother, Azrai. When the six gods' assembled mortal legions proved inadequate to overcome Azrai, the gods destroyed themselves in order to destroy him. The mortals fortunate enough to survive the final blast inherited shards of godhood: while a small handful absorbed enough divinity to act as new gods, far more of the mortal onlookers ("scions") gained a few fragments of divine power that manifested as supernatural abilities and, more importantly in some ways, an ability to bond with the lands over which they rule. At the same time, Azrai's scattered essence granted power — but also monstrous mutations — to a variety of people and monsters, setting the stage for the awnsheghlien (monsters with similar "divine right" abilities).

A videogame adaptation, Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance, was released in 1997.


This setting provides examples of:

  • Absolute Xenophobe:
    • Orogs consider all other races their enemies.
    • The various elven realms fit into this trope, to varying extents. While a few are open to trade and (controlled, very limited) visits from outsiders, most range from "No outsiders in our lands on pain of death" to "We will actively hunt and kill any non-elves we can find to reclaim our lost territory." Notably, the elvish word for elves is "Sidhelien", which literally translates to "the people"; elves consider all non-elves to be literal non-persons, ranging from tolerable (dwarves, sometimes humans) to "exterminate on sight" (goblins, ogrekin, etc.)
  • And Then John Was a Zombie: Killing an awnshegh is a good way to become one, since upon acquiring its bloodline power the slayer can get tainted.
  • Animalistic Abomination:
    • Beast-type awnsheglien are former animals who consumed scions and were mutated by the Blood they carried. Examples covered in the "Blood Enemies" sourcebook consist of the Boar (a gargantuan albino wild pig), the Hydra (a crocodile which has developed multiple limbs and a mane of tentacle-like necks topped with the screaming heads of the scions it's eaten), the Leviathan (giant carnivorous whale or sea serpent) and the Wolf (an unusually large and intelligent wolf).
    • Some of the Tainted-type awnsheglien have devolved into a grotesque animal-like form, most notably the Basilisk (grotesque humanoid reptile), the Chimaera (scaly, multi-armed, bat-winged panther), the Gorgon (stony-hided minotaur), the Kraken (an enormous, deformed, squid-like creature), the Seadrake (man turned into a sea serpent) and the Spider (hideous half-goblin, half-spider).
    • The Sphinx is a weird case that might fit either category; he's a scion who was killed and eaten by a lion, but who possessed his killer's body and reshaped it to have eerily human-like traits.
    • The Serpent is a strange awnshegh that can take the form of either a man with a snake's head or a giant serpent. He suffers from a particularly strong delusion of godhood, even given that scions are, technically, aspirant demigods.
  • Antagonistic Offspring: Lussina, the queen of the Unseelie Court, is the daughter of the queen of the Seelie Court. She once plotted to overthrow her mother and failed, but her mother was unwilling to execute her own daughter and exiled her instead, leading to the foundation of the Unseelie Court by Lussina and her followers.
  • Bad Powers, Bad People: Those with Azrai-tainted blood who use their powers freely may find themselves slowly being corrupted by their bloodline, their flesh mutating as they slowly turn into an awnshegh. This usually (but not always) also includes the characters turning evil as whatever morals and scruples they may have once possessed are stripped away or perverted to better align with the dark god's ambitions.
  • Bad Powers, Good People: Although nearly all of the awnsheghlien are evil aligned, they manage to avert the Always Chaotic Evil trope, as there are a handful of neutral awnsheghlien and even some (very rare ones) that are, if not outright good-aligned, then at least good in the eyes of their people. The most famous of these is The Siren, who came to rule her nation (now known as the Siren's Realm) by defeating the Dusk Man, a powerful and cruel awnshegh that had carved out the realm from the nearby kingdom of Halskapa. The Siren is widely considered to be a good and just ruler and seeks only to protect her people and keep their lands peaceful and free of invaders (including the Halskapans, who would dearly like to take their former provinces back, by force if necessary).
  • Balkanize Me:
    • After the death of Michael Roele, last of his line, the Anuirean Empire crumbled as power-hungry pretenders to the throne waged a continuous civil war lasting more than 70 years.
    • Downplayed, but also present in the Khinasi and Brecht realms. After overthrowing Anuirean occupation, the two lands formed their own empires (the Basarji Federation and the Brecht League respectively) in an attempt to unite their people in a manner similar to Anuire. Unfortunately, neither were particularly successful at it and both empires collapsed to infighting in just a few decades.
  • Barbarian Tribe: The Vos are a barbaric people that demand blood for even unintentional insults and consider all professions except warrior and hunter unmanly.
  • Bastard Bastard: Raesene was the elder half-brother of Haelyn and Roele, the royal princes of the Anuirean people, but he was born out of wedlock; his resentment over this was what made him susceptible to Azrai's blandishments, prompting his Face–Heel Turn. Almost a millennium and a half later, he still bedevils Cerilia as the mightiest awnshegh, the Gorgon.
  • Bestiality Is Depraved:
  • Bequeathed Power: Blood inheritance. May work, if rarely, even on non-Blooded.
  • Big Bad: The Gorgon. He was the strongest of the evil god's followers, but was too far away from the explosion to become a god, so he ended up being the most dangerous Awnshegh instead.
  • Blinded by the Light: Avani's avatar is a bright beam of sunlight that can blind those that look directly at her.
  • Body Horror: Azrai's mutations are seldom pleasant.
  • Bungled Suicide: When Garrilein Suliere found himself transforming into an awnshegh, he tried to drown himself in the sea, only to find out that he can now breathe water, which also hastened his transformation into the Seadrake.
  • Cain and Abel: Raesene, the champion of Azrai who later became the Gorgon, is the Cain to the Abel of his half-brothers, Haelyn and Roele, champions of Anduiras.
  • Can't Argue with Elves: Defied. The Elf, the awnshegh Rhuobhe Manslayer, founded the hate-group the Wild Hunt after originally befriending humanity, then being traumatized and embittered by their unwillingness to listen to him and stop ravaging Cerillia's virgin lands, finally siding with Azrai to attempt to exterminate mankind, even as other elves abandoned the evil god in droves upon learning of his plans for the world. In the modern day, other elves don't necessarily disagree with him in principle, but they feel he has not only fallen into evil but ironically come to adopt human principles of organization in his zeal to wipe them out.
  • Changeling Tale: Shadow World faeries steal human children to raise in the Seelie Court, leaving behind an ancient fairy in the stolen child's place.
  • The City vs. the Country: A source of strife in the Rjurik Highlands. Traditionally a nomadic people, some Rjurik tribes have recently started abandoning their traditional ways and building permanent settlements. These new cities are prosperous, but more traditional-minded Rjurik believe this is an affront to their way of life and a slap in the face of their patron god, Erik (a god of nature and wilderness).
  • Dark Is Not Evil: The Vos would argue this applies to them. It doesn't.
    • The awnsheghlien who manage to resist Azrai's remnant will have infinitely better claim to this. It isn't easy though, and more than one awnshegh antagonist is a Tragic Monster because of it.
  • Dark World: The Shadow World is a cold, dark parallel of Cerilia that exists when night falls. Those that made their way there describe it as a cold, dark, desolate, distorted version of Cerilia. Only powerful magic can breach the veil between worlds, but it is weak in places of great evil, or in the darkest winter nights. Cerilians believe that any supernatural evil like undead and fiends hail from the Shadow World.
  • Defector from Decadence: When Azrai first came to Cerilia, the elves initially sided with him to take revenge on the humans that took their land, but later most of them realised his evil and deserted him.
  • Deity of Human Origin: When the old gods died at Mount Deismaar, their champions inherited most of their power, becoming gods themselves.
  • Divine Conflict: In the setting's Back Story the Good deities fought the Evil deity Azrai. They finally sacrificed themselves, destroying both themselves and Azrai at the apex of a colossal battle at Deismaar.
  • Divine Right of Kings: The main feature of the Birthright setting, taking a rather literal interpretation of the historical "Divine Right to Rule" that stipulated that the rulers of ancient kingdoms had divine blood in their veins. Following the deaths of the old gods at the titanic battle of Deismaar, their blood rained down on the mortal combatants below. Those who absorbed the most of the divine essence ascended to godhood themselves and became a pantheon of new gods; however, some only absorbed a portion of the divine blood. These "blooded" individuals discovered they could call on supernatural powers associated with their gods, practice "true magic", and could also link themselves to the land. Just as gods are worshipped, these mortals of divine blood soon found they were natural rulers of the people and rose to become kings of nations, masters of great trade guilds, or wizards without peer. Notably, the right of blooded characters to rule is a near-universal constant in the Birthright setting and is taken extremely seriously. Though not all blooded are rulers, every ruler of any consequence is blooded (non-blooded characters could serve as a town mayor or the leader of an individual guild hall, but that is more or less their ceiling, as people would simply refuse to obey them if they tried to rise higher than that). Notably, when the developers were asked about non-blooded characters from other campaign settings visiting Cerilia, they responded that while such characters could visit by means of plane-travelling spells or portals, they could not become regents, as the populace would immediately revolt if a non-blooded tried to force his way into leadership. Cerilians would sooner be ruled by an awnshegh than a non-blooded - at least the awnshegh has some link to the divine.
  • Dragon Hoard: The Seadrake collects a toll from all ships passing through his domain. He has no practical use for the treasure, but enjoys its company and jealously protects it from thieves.
  • Elves Versus Dwarves: An odd variant exists in Birthright. The elves take their usual role from the trope (though with notably less of a mind towards diplomacy, as Birthright elves tend to be closer to The Fair Folk and embrace more isolationist tendencies than many other fictional elf variants), but the part of the "dwarves" in the trope (mechanical, industrious, somewhat blunt with other races) is actually filled by humans in the setting. The Birthright dwarves are, somewhat surprisingly, pretty much the race with the best relations with the elves. This is due to the fact that the dwarves and elves mostly keep to themselves and when the dwarves initiate contact with other races, it is mostly in the form of trade caravans that take great care to keep good diplomatic relations with all their potential clients, elves included.
  • Enchanted Forest: After the elves lost their war against the invading humans from Aduria, they retreated to the forests, concentrating their efforts on protecting their borders against any invading humans. Those that try never return, and humans are advised to stay well away from elven woods.
  • Ethnic God: Dwarves, goblins, gnolls, minotaurs, orogs, and other races each have their own patron deities who are little known (let alone worshipped) by other races. The old human gods were also this, each being patron to a different ethnic group; with the advent of the new gods, this has lessened over time, but each human culture still tends to predominantly worship their original associated god for the most part.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: Kriesha, one of the divine successors of Azrai and his former high priestess at Deismaar, became after it the goddess of winter.
  • Evil Overlord: Evil human and humanoid rulers of sufficiently strong and organized domains, as well as the strongest ruling Awnshegh, tend to be this.
  • Evil Poacher: The Boar of Thuringode became an awnshegh by killing an Azrai-blooded nobleman who went into the forest to wantonly destroy trees and wildlife.
  • Fallen Hero: Some Awnshegh began as heroic characters, before either the blood of Azrai rang true, or their bloodline was tainted by it due to killing another Awnshegh.
  • Fantastic Racism:
    • Each human nationality is even treated differently.
    • Goblins are treated as mere vermin, but some sourcebooks hint that they were once a civilized and noble people in their own right, long before humans colonized their lands.
    • Humans and elves fight quite bitterly, with many elves hating humans for their perceived ravaging of the forests. The Wild Hunt exists on Cerilia as essentially an anti-human hate group called the Gheallie Sidhe (Hunt of the Elves), a militant faction of elves dedicated to driving off or exterminating all humans. One of the awnsheghlien, is Rhuobhe Manslayer, also called "The Elf", who was one of the founders of the Wild Hunt and still harries humanity to its extinction today.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
    • The Anuireans, Khinasi, Brecht, Rjurik, and Vos are respectively Anglo-Saxon French Romans, Turkish Persian Arabs, the Hanseatic League, part-Celtic Vikings, and Kislevite Russians with more than a touch of Kurgan.
    • The Khinasi territory of Binsada is a not-so-subtle allusion to the Mongol Empire of the 13th century (with their founder being described as a nomad clan leader named either "Chenghas Zaran" or "Tengis Rhan"). It is an entirely nomadic culture that demands tribute from its various vassal states, riding out and destroying those who refuse, but it allows conquered lands to keep their culture and religion, all of which are true to the policies of the Mongol Empire. Also like the Mongol Empire, there is considerable disagreement within Binsada as to whether the nation should maintain its historical, nomadic ways or build permanent settlements and become a more modern empire (this same disagreement was a major factor in the weakening and eventual dissolution of the Mongol Empire).
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: Just like the base game, Birthright keeps the four basic "classes" (fighter, wizard, cleric, thief), but now upscales them into types of regency/leadership. The "fighter" equivalent is law holdings (consisting of law enforcement, militaries, and the like); the "wizard" equivalent is source holdings (source of magical energy that can be used to power realm spells); the cleric is temple holdings (exactly what it sounds like - temples, shrines, and other religious sites); and the thief is the guild holding (trade unions, natural resource extraction guilds, etc.). Accordingly, the class corresponding to each holding tends to be the one who most naturally rules that type of holding.
  • Fights Like a Normal: The Gorgon doesn't have any real spellcasting abilities and doesn't have any of the cheap awnshegh powers like Invulnerability. But, petrifying gaze aside, he was the best swordsman in the world before he became an immortal, super-strong, rock-skinned monster who had millennia to practice and hone his craft.
  • Fisher King: The land tends to mirror whoever is ruling it. A just ruler will result in their land being fair and just in result, while a despotic or underhanded ruler will see their realm turn inhospitable. Should a ruler have their bloodline severed, the land will often enter a period of dramatic decline, suffering droughts and natural disasters.
  • Full-Boar Action: The awnshegh known as the Boar of Thuringode is a white boar of unusual size, ferocity, and constitution.
  • Glory Seeker: Cuiraécen is the patron of young warriors who plunge into battle in search of personal glory.
  • God Couple: Couples among the gods include Haelyn and Nesirie; Sera and Ruornil; Erik and Avani.
  • God's Hands Are Tied: After Deismaar, the new gods agreed to avoid direct interference in the world to prevent a repeat. This is why the Gorgon, rather than the new evil gods, is the Big Bad.
  • Götterdämmerung: Mount Deismaar.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: No matter which of the usual awnshegh are your campaign's Big Bad (with the Gorgon, the Magian, the Raven, and Rhoubhe Manslayer (the Elf) being the four most powerful/most common), they are all fuelled by the fallen god of evil, Azrai.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Half-elves are the offspring of the unions between elves and the rare humans that get accepted by them. Elves view them as Sidhelien and welcome them fully, while humans usually distrust them.
    • A half-orog appears in the setting-based novel The Spider's Test. He looks like a normal orog, but takes after his human mother and grandfather in his personality.
  • Hegemonic Empire: After the battle of Mount Deismaar, Roele, champion of the old god Anduiras and brother of the new god Haelyn, founded an empire by defeating the local Anuirean petty kings as well as the Brechts and Basarji. He and his descendants did a good job ruling it until his line failed and the empire crumbled with it.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In the battle of Mount Deismaar, the old gods gave their own lives in the hope of stopping Azrai.
  • Horned Humanoid: The Gorgon appears as a stony skinned humanoid with horns atop his massive head. The Minotaur plays with the trope.
  • If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Quite literally, a hero attempting to slay an awnshegh may end up getting overwhelmed by the evil power in the monster's bloodline and become just as tainted.
  • Immortality Seeker: Danita Kusor sought to discover the secrets of immortality and eternal youth during her mortal life before she became the Chimaera.
  • In the Blood: "Bloodlines" are the central feature.
  • Invading Refugees: The original humans who came to Cerilia from Aduria did that to flee the shadow of Azrai in Aduria, displacing the native elves in the process.
  • Jekyll & Hyde:
    • Justina Heulough's normal self is that of a kind, sweet, just leader. When she sleeps, the Banshegh, her dark self which closely resembles her face and form, separates from her corporeal body to haunt her domain. Justina doesn't know that she is an awnshegh, denies all the evidence, and even puts a bounty on the head of the Banshegh. It is unknown if the Banshegh is a malevolent invader or a manifestation of Justina's spirit.
    • The White Witch is an interesting inversion of this trope. An evil, tyrannical awnshegh, the White Witch nevertheless insists she is a fair and noble ruler, who seeks only the best for her people. The trope comes into play due to a magical ring the White Witch carries and uses extensively. The White Witch's true form is that of an aged, hideous, and withered crone; however, when she is wearing her magical ring, she instead appears young, vibrant and attractive, which is the image she presents to everyone both in her realm and outside of it. Though it is this illusion that makes the ring valuable to the White Witch, it also has an unusual side-effect; while wearing it, the White Witch becomes Lawful Good and cannot commit evil acts. Thus, the White Witch is a strange case of this trope where the "Hyde" is her true self and her "Jekyll" form only comes out when she is using her magic ring.
  • King in the Mountain: Several hundred years ago, a Brecht invasion into Vosgaard was stopped by the Tsarevic Basil Zariyatam, who formed a short-lived Vos Federation. He was destroyed along with his army and the invaders in a bloody battle on the frozen surface of Lake Ladan, but the Vos whisper that he's sleeping under the lake, waiting until he's needed again.
  • Knight Templar Parent: Malik el-Badr, father of Bali el-Badr, wanted his son to become a proud, beautiful, loved leader exactly like him. Bali, however, only wanted to be left alone to his studies and rebelled by sowing discord, malice, and worry, eventually becoming the Basilisk.
  • Kraken and Leviathan:
    • The Seadrake is a 50-foot-long serpentine awnshegh capable of breathing both water and air that patrols the Straits of Aerele and preys on sharks and whales. He Was Once a Man, and does try to restrain himself from hurting people... though he cannot resist the part of his nature that demands he hoard treasure, and so mostly runs a protection racket.
    • The Leviathan is even bigger than him, and, while once demanding tribute from passing ships, has since fully degenerated into an animalistic monster. Sightings are few, and it is alternately described as a huge whale or sea-serpent, possibly a fusion of both like a mosasaur. It's a perpetual headache for anyone trying to get to the semi-mythical island of Torova Temylatin off the northeast coast of the continent.
    • The Kraken is even bigger than it, and the largest of all awnshegh. Extremely intelligent but alien and inscrutable, it has utterly dominated the local sahaguin civilization, demanding they make no contact with humanity, and forcing them to worship it as a god, which somehow grants them cleric spells. It sometimes raids ships too, and its regeneration means it doesn't care about losing an eye or an arm while claiming a prize.
  • Ley Line: Domain-based magic rules include these.
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Second Edition tended to be where this trope was at its zenith in DnD and Birthright is no exception.
    • Of the four types of regency (law, magical source, temple, guild), the one associated with wizards (magical source) tends to be the weakest of the four to start out with. Magical sources are at their strongest where nature is untouched and there is little development of the land; accordingly, wizards tend to focus on lands where there aren't many people present - that means no populations to draw armies or mercenaries or income from. Moreover, magical sources are the only ones that do not directly provide income (law holdings allow the regent to raise taxes, temples can tithe the faithful, and guilds can establish trade routes and take a cut of the profits) - given that wizards tend to need large amounts of gold to cast realm spells and develop their magical prowess (researching new spells, establishing and maintaining ley lines, etc.), this means low level wizards are often flat-broke and have to try and ingratiate themselves with more powerful regents in order to generate some income; this can be difficult to do, as low-level wizard regents are often seen in-game as weak and not worthy of much attention. However, once the wizard gets established and builds up their capabilities, they can be a force to be reckoned with - a wizard with high-level sources gains pseudo-law and guild holding capabilities, and their realm spells can be absolutely devastating to an enemy, especially one that has no wizard of their own to protect them, making the respected and/or feared by other regents around them.
    • This applies at the character level as well. Wizard characters can (and, in the case of PCs, often do) hold any type of holding they like (i.e. they can run a kingdom by controlling law holdings, or be a guildmaster by controlling guild holdings), but non-Wizards cannot make use of source holdings (as they lack the magical ability to do anything with them). Furthermore, while anyone who controls holdings gets RP from them, the draw is not equal - for instance, fighters, paladins, and rangers all get to generate RP from their law holdings, paladins also get partial RP from their temple holdings and rangers get partial RP from guild holdings. Finally, while fighters don't get any new abilities when fighting in mass combat, spellcasters in Birthright get access to "battle magic" - basically upscaled magic spells that, instead of frying a troll or two, can wipe out an entire battalion in one shot. Spellcasting perks tend to be negligible, if not outright underpowered at low levels, but quickly eclipse anything a fighter-based character can manage as character levels increase.
  • Loads and Loads of Rules: The campaign themed itself on allowing Players to run PCs who ruled a domain (country, temple, guilds), which required more rules.
  • Lost Tribe: The Masetians were a primarily sea-dwelling people and the sixth human tribe from Aduria. Late to flee Deismaar, due to seeking to repair their ships, they were nearly wiped out in the resulting calamity. The Basarji (who would later become the Khinasi) swiftly took over much of their land and the few Masetians who survived were forced into servitude or else were assimilated into Basarji culture. Rumours abound that lost enclaves of pure-blooded Masetians still exist somewhere in the world, but thus far none are widely known.
  • Mage Species: Downplayed. In Birthright, the Wizard class is only accessible to Blooded individuals, as only they have the mystical "spark" that lets them channel such magic. Non-Blooded characters can only become Bards or "Mages", a weaker version of the Wizard that only has relatively low-level spells and relies heavily on ritual magic.
  • Meaningful Name: As the PCs are often rulers with an ancestral bloodline, or birthright.
  • Meaningful Rename: The Basarji eventually renamed themselves "khir-aften el-Arassi" ("people under the protection of el-Arassi") after the mage-king el-Arassi, who rose to prominence in Ariya and later (briefly) united the entire Basarji people and overthrew their Anuirean overseers. This name became shortened over time to "Khinasi", the people's current name.
  • Medieval European Fantasy: This is the founding core of the setting, which is designed literally from the ground up to be much more of a "Medieval Europe with added magic" feel than other major settings of TSR at the time—Greyhawk, for example, falls more in between a Darker and Edgier Standard Fantasy Setting and a Medieval Europe-flavored Sword and Sorcery setting. It even uses Welsh as the basis for the native language.
  • Might Makes Right: Belinik teaches that might makes right; strength and savagery are all that a warrior needs.
  • Mirror World: The Shadow World is basically described as being the same as the real one, except inhabited by the dead.
  • Monster Progenitor: Many awnsheghlien have the ability to produce lesser offspring of some kind. For some, this is asexual, such as the Hydra spontaneously spawning bizarre compound horrors from its shifting flesh. Others take a more... traditional... approach, as with the Sphinx, who has produced a myriad feline monsters, ranging from Cat Folk to unusually intelligent dire lions, by rampantly breeding with humans and great cats alike.
  • Non-Indicative Name: While most awnshegh are sensibly named based on what they are, a few have names that don't at all match their physical description:
    • The Gorgon, one of the most powerful villains in the setting, looks nothing like a gorgon (mythologically a humanoid with snakes for hair, the most famous of which is Medusa, and in other D&D properties a disagreeable swamp-dwelling creature with petrifying breath), instead appearing as a stone-skinned minotaur-like creature, although he does have a gaze that can petrify or kill.
    • On the other hand, Malvaar the Minotaur is actually a centaur (human torso and head atop an equine body), rather than a Minotaur (bull torso and head atop a human lower body).
  • One-Word Title: Also a Portmantitle because it's a compound word.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Yep. The dwarves of Cerilia are the classic strong, enduring, hard-working people who live in mountain-based clans and excel at mining. There is one unique trait about them, though; their flesh is incredibly dense, more like stone than meat in make-up. This makes them heavily resistant to bludgeoning damage, but also means that they are incapable of swimming.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Unlike in normal Dungeons & Dragons, Cerilian dragons are all part of the same species. Fewer than two dozen have been ever known to exist, and perhaps only half a dozen are still alive, all of them unique. Dragons are neutral and only want to be left alone in their homes, high in the Drachenaurs.
  • Our Elves Are Different: They're more The Fair Folk. The Elf actually isn't the progenitor of their race, but he still somewhat fits the mold of other awnsheghlien by virtue of Azrai's taint basically transforming him into the setting's equivalent of a drow.
  • Our Giants Are Bigger: Cerilian giants are elemental creatures tied closely to the earth. Stone, hill, forest, and mountain giants are usually solitary, reclusive and only attack those that trespass or build settlements in their territory, while the northern ice giants and fhoimorien are more dangerous and frequently raid.
  • Our Goblins Are Different: Mechanically the standard D&D divisions of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears still exist; culturally and visually there's only one race of goblins that happens to come in three different sizes.
  • Our Monsters Are Different: Many monsters that are common Mooks in regular D&D are unique villains called Awnsheghlien or Blood Abominations. (Examples: The Gorgon, the Hag, the Manticore.) They often spawn mook versions as well. While other Bloodlines are less contagious, they are also known to "enhance" normal animals: "Bloodhounds" descended from war-dogs who got spilled power, can detect Shadow creatures and tend to be very smart, loyal and strong. Wild dogs with the bloodline of a war-god become natural leaders in their packs just like humans do, and can be really nasty critters — or legitimate bloodtheft fodder, for those who can pull this.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: They call them Orogs; they're stronger and tougher than standard D&D orcs, but less numerous as a tradeoff.
  • Our Sirens Are Different: The awnshegh known as the Siren has the unique Bloodline power of a super-destructive voice that can annihilate whatever is around her when she speaks. Unfortunately for her, she's both incapable of turning it off and a good person at heart.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: The vampire is a blood abomination who used to be a heroic nobleman, but stabbed a previous blood abomination in the heart and got his bloodline.
  • Physical God: Possibly the Serpent. The Serpent is one of the most powerful awnsheghlien on the continent and has proclaimed himself a god. While most such claims from scions are dismissed as insane megalomania, in the Serpent's case, he actually has priests dedicated to him and they can use priestly magic, something that should not be possible unless he actually is a deity.
  • Portmantitle: Also a One-Word Title.
  • Power Parasite: Some of the raw bloodline strength, sometimes along with abilities, can be stolen by killing its carrier in specific ways. Blood Abominations tend to be very, very powerful because they frequently choose bloodtheft as the road to power and actively seek it — by the time people know of them, they usually already have slaughtered and drained lots of "blooded" folk.
  • Proud Merchant Race: The Brechts model their lives according to the ideals of their patron Sera, goddess of commerce. The highest caste in Brecht society is the merchant, and many sailors give their lives in their aspiration to become one.
  • Rasputinian Death: Invoked; a Bloodline power called Invulnerability, carried through the Bloodlines of Azrai, Basaia, and Vorynn, makes it impossible for the possessor to die unless certain ritual steps are completed first. Otherwise the "dead" body will slowly regenerate itself, even to the point of From a Single Cell, until the scion comes back to life. Many of the more prominent awnsheghlien possess this trait, but not all of them; "Blood Enemies" lists its possessors as the Apocalypse, the Banshegh, the Basilisk, the Boar, the Hydra, the Magian, the Raven, and the Spider. Ironically, the most famous and powerful of all awnsheghlien, the Gorgon, lacks this ability. Further complicating matters, almost all of these awnsheghlien don't have their method of destruction described in "Blood Enemies"; only two have a canonical means of death:
    • The Boar will only perish if decapitated and its tusks are pulled out.
    • The Spider can only die if he is chopped into bits, those bits are then burned for a day on a fire fed with wood taken from the tree of a dryad, and the resultant ashes are then plowed into the earth with a large amount of salt.
  • Sacred Hospitality: The Rjurik practice a variant of this. According to their cultural traditions, any Rjurik must not turn away another who seeks shelter during the dangerously cold winter months, even if they are sworn enemies; however, by the same token, any Rjurik that accepts another's shelter under these conditions must be a gracious guest and not seek to attack, insult, or steal from their host. Failing to honour either of these requirements is considered a very serious crime under Rjurik law.
  • Satanic Archetype: Azrai. In addition to being a god of evil who was cast out and destroyed by the other gods, he was also purportedly the most beautiful and powerful of the gods before his fall. He is also well known for his corrupting influence and is the driving force behind most of the setting's biggest villains.
  • Savage Wolves: Cwm annwn are enormous, elf-hunting supernatural dogs that come from the Shadow World, and they are the reason for the elves' ancestral fear of the Shadow World.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": The name of an awnshegh can be distinguised from the servants they created by the presence of the definite article. Killing a hydra is nothing like killing the Hydra.
  • Standard Evil Organization Squad: The Red Kings of Aftane. A collection of seven blooded evil regents that have unified to rule the land of Aftane and its surrounding areas, only one of them - their herald, Arlando el-Adaba - has a confirmed identity.
  • The Theocracy: Several - any nation led by a priest-regent is likely to fall into this.
    • The island kingdom of Ghamoura is ruled by the High Priest of Nasri, with lesser priests serving the roles of military officers and bureaucrats.
    • Similarly, Ariya is, by convention, led by a prince-paladin of Avani and religion is central to much of the kingdom's governance.
    • Medoere is a theocracy that split off from Diemed and is dedicated to the moon god Ruornil, with the ruler traditionally being the archpriest or archpriestess of Ruornil's Celestial Spell.
  • Unobtainium: Tighmaevril, also called Bloodsilver, is a very, very rare ore created from the blood of the gods. It was used by the elven wizard Ghoigwnnwd to create twelve (probably) of the most powerful weapons known.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Maalvar the Minotaur, a Chaotic Neutral awnshegh, will sometimes be overcome with frenzied bloodlust and will enter an unstoppable rage whereupon he becomes physically stronger and more durable, but loses the ability to strategize or think cogently. These rages are not necessarily prompted by anything (though he is more likely to enter them when injured) and he cannot control them. For this reason, he keeps himself ensconced within a massive labyrinth, which he has personally expanded several times. He sees himself as a protector of the reclusive Itave people (who also live within the maze) and he knows that he does not have the mental acuity to solve the maze while in a rage, so the labyrinth serves as a self-imposed trap that prevents him from harming them when he is unable to control himself.
  • Vestigial Empire: Several. Numerous smaller nations have collapsed or are in decline at the time of the game's setting, whether due to external forces, internal malaise, or some combination of the two.
    • Anuire is probably the biggest example (and an Expy of Ancient Rome, for bonus points). Formerly the dominant power on Cerilia, with holdings covering nearly two thirds of the continent, including the lands of the Khinasi and Rjurik, Anuire collapsed when its last Emperor - Michael Roele - died in battle against the Gorgon without a designated heir. In addition to losing its foreign holdings, Anuire has now been sundered into roughly a dozen smaller nations, with the larger ones seeking to use politics and force to reunite the old empire under their control.
    • Khinasi, similarly, is a land whose best days appear to be behind it. After a golden age following the collapse of Anuire, the Khinasi states have experienced decline as a result of internal politicking, weak leadership, awnshegh predation, and belligerence of the Vos from the north.
  • Was Once a Man: Many awnsheghlien used to be humans until transformed by Azrai's dark power in their veins.
  • Weakened by the Light: Orogs are an underground-dwelling race and are nearly helpless in sunlight.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: Kill one of the Blooded by violence, and his spilled power will be inherited by anyone in the vicinity of his death. Kill him with tighmaevril, or by piercing him intentionally through the heart, and you get it all. But since a bloodline may dominate an equal or weaker one, the killer sometimes gets more changes than just power. Which is one of the reasons why Awnsheghlien are hard to eliminate: those who slay one without being more powerful as scions frequently end up tainted by its bloodline, possibly producing several unwilling "heirs" from one killing, eventually turning into new overpowered monsters.

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