Dark Fantasy X Race Deep Dive: The Kemlings

Many fantasy settings have outlines, or even full treatises, that explain the history of the setting going back thousands—or even tens of thousands—of years. A quick glance at two settings that I happen to have nearby: the original 3.5 iterations of Golarion and Eberron, show that they have outlines going back at least 5,000 years and 10,000+ respectively.

Part of the problem is that Tolkien did this, to some degree. And for Tolkien it was somewhat justified, as he had elves that had lifespans of at least thousands of years still kicking around, with living memory of times that should have been so far back that they were mythological rather than verified history anyway. As has often been the case, people following in Tolkien's footsteps have slavishly tried to imitate him without necessarily really understanding why Tolkien did something, or why he was able to make it work. The past works best when it's kind of mysterious—like it is in the real world. Although a number of smug academics firmly believe that they understand the past, I'm not convinced. In part, because I see how callously most of them treat primary sources, and how dogmatic they are about narratives constructed second-hand many years after the fact to try and explain history. But that's neither here nor there, except to point out that in Dark Fantasy X, I have no intention of explaining really any history of any kind that's older than a couple hundred years, and even then, only infrequently. (The same is mostly true for Space Opera X, to be honest with you. I actually think it's a feature of good design, unless you have extraordinary circumstances, to leave the past alone unless something in the past is a major plot point, and even then, treat it only as much as you must.)

So, the kemlings. Where did they come from, and how long ago? There are many indications that they are actually a young race, and may only have existed for ~400-500 years or so. However, because they appeared in a savage area of the setting where records were not really kept, and most people didn't even read or write, and because there are a lot of propagandistic and jingoistic narratives that the kemlings have told about themselves and others have told about them in retaliation, the truth is probably impossible to divine without maybe asking one of the older Heresiarchs about it. Which would be an absolutely terrible idea, by the way. Like most of the non-human races, the kemlings are demihumans; their ancestors were human, but some kind of event happened to their genetics; either the introduction of some supernatural bloodline, or a curse, or something else that changed them into something that's mostly human-like, but not exactly human anymore. In the case of the kemlings, they have charcoal like skin that ranges in hue from that of medium ashy gray to jet black obsidian. At the lightest, they still don't really converge with the darkest of Hyperboreans, but many have wondered at the generally colorlessness of both races, and attempted to tie them together somehow. This seems fundamentally unlikely; the base human stock that the kemlings come from is probably the Drylander barbarians that live in the Baal Hamazi area where the kemlings first appeared.

In addition to their dark skin and black hair, the kemlings tend to have intense yellow or red irises, and most iconically, their heads are ringed with a number of small horns, often forming a crown-like pattern. According to the beliefs of the ruling class of Baal Hamazi before its collapse, this was in direct imitation of their mythological supernatural ancestor, the Daemon-Lord Chernavog, and his direct descendant, the half-daemon Hutran Kutir, the first Emperor of Baal Hamazi. Kutir is often claimed as the first kemling, and he had hundreds of sons and a like number of daughters, all pureblood kemlings, and from them the race propagated, as their descendants, even when mingled with humans, came out as pureblood kemlings. Whether this is literally true or not hardly matters; many kemlings themselves no longer believe it, and think that Chernavog and possibly even Hutran Kutir himself are merely mythical figures who's tangible existence should be doubted. They also often express some degree of embarrassment to be a bloodline saddled with what may well be a daemonic taint, not to mention the stigma of having ruled an empire that is now seen by most as the epitome of evil and degeneracy. Many feel that they have more to live down rather than live up to with regards to their dark heritage (the original source of the name, I might add). 

A pretty typical kemling adventuring fellow from Baal Hamazi. Many kemlings have left the city-states and now live in the wilderness, often in tribes, where they often mingle heavily with Drylander savages.

Many kemlings, perhaps as a result of their dark heritage, seem to be drawn to careers that they should avoid. The consorting with daemons and witchcraft and dark cults that was a hallmark of the Empire still lingers here and there, but it has often translated in to a more mundane focus on organized crime. This infiltrator is an expert assassin, spy and cat burglar, who probably works as a free agent across the city-states for various crime lords.

This kemling lord is one who's family managed to weather the falling of the empire and retain a privileged position in the new order that replaced it, although that makes him an exceptional individual indeed.

Like among the Hyperboreans, the shadow sword career is one that seems to have a long history in Baal Hamazi, and kemling shadow swords—while not common—are at least common enough to be a folk tale told around the Three Realms.

Like the Hyperboreans, and like most demihuman races, the kemlings have a curse that manifests in their bloodline from time to time. They do not speak of this curse to outsiders, and many do not know of its existence, or do not believe it if they have heard of it. In terms of the game (as opposed to the setting as a place for potential fiction) I'd suggest that unless a player wants to roleplay out the effects of this curse, that it be seen as not affecting PC characters.  I suggest, in fact, that they not affect major NPCs either, unless it's a theme or something that you want to explore deliberately.  I'd additionally suggest that if you needed a statistical number for how likely it is to occur, that number is quite a bit less than 0.1%.  However... there are considerably more than a thousand kemling individuals so if this is something that you want to use for whatever reason, you can.  

The kemling curse is inextricably tangled in their mythological origin. In spite of the skepticism that many kemlings and non-kemlings exhibit towards the story of Chernavog and Hutran Kutir, their curse is a circumstantial proof, if you will, of genuine daemonic ancestry in the kemlings, even if not necessarily exactly as told in the myths.  It is possible that their ancestor was a Daemon-Lord named Chernavog, who lived for a time among mortals and fathered seed who's daemonic traits are now watered down to represent their own race.  It is also possible that Chernavog's son Hutran Kutir, the Hex-King, is the founder of Baal Hamazi, their glorious empire of the past, although any other detail about is life other than that is vague and to be distrusted.  The kemlings are more likely than any other race to fall victim to the Black Choler, a kind of violent madness.  Such victims are usually quietly locked away or even put down entirely for the good of the community.  In fact, the latter is often preferred, although family members sometimes object. In the worst case scenario, someone afflicted by the Black Choler may burst open when the condition is fully ripe, and a daemon (usually merely an imp or servitor daemon, but sometimes more powerful ones are able to latch on to the bloodline and follow it to the mortal world) will claw its way out of the bloody corpse to afflict everyone around.

In the past, it was seen as a glorious evidence of being touched by Chernavog, and victims of the Black Choler were given pampered existences in peacetime, and turned on their enemies as berserker shock troops in times of war. The inherent unreliability of this strategy, as well as the burden of maintaining them in peacetime, even when there were very few of them, made this practice fall out of favor before the ending of the Empire and its dissolution into various city-states, and someone falling victim to the Black Choler in this time of post-Empire is seen as a disaster and tragedy for the individual involved, as well as his family and community.

The scholars of Simashki have a more grounded theory for the origin of the kemling race and its curse, and teach that Hutran Kutir, if he actually existed at all, was probably born a kemling the same as all of the rest of them. Because this was a time when the kemling race wasn't common or true breeding, but rather an atavistic or recessive trait for humans with a touch of daemon blood in them, this was usually seen as a great curse on the family that birthed a kemling, but Kutir was born in a position of some power and influence as the chief's son and heir of the Awan tribe of Old Drylanders. He probably learned complex architecture, social structure and writing from some of the early neighbors of the region, and most scholars actually favor time spent in Tarush Noptii, the predecessor kingdom of Timischburg. Possibly Kutir returning to the region with a vampiric advisor, even. Kutir was able to quickly conquer and marshal the resources of the Awan tribe, as well as many neighbors, forging them into the force that would found the Baal Hamazi empire, and using imported or captured slave labor to build the first city in the region, Baal Hamazi, deep in the Gorgelands.

From its newly constructed heartland in the Gorgelands, his rule spread throughout the old drylander tribes, founding other outposts which grew into major urban centers: Nashur, Baal Hishutash, Tahrah, Simashki, Ishkur, Baal Ngirsu, Shushun and Isin. Between these urban centers, much of the wilderness that separated them was also pacified: the legendary Pax Hamazi.  As the empire grew, so too did the population of the kemlings. It became fashionable to remove all hair from the head to show off these horns at one point, and that style remains in some of the successor states where kemling heritage is still seen as prestigious. 

Ultimately, some believe that the growth of the kemling population in such a cluster was what foundered the empire. After nearly four hundred years of relative peace and growth, there grew to be too many kemlings living in indolence, and the resources of the empire started to become strained. The old drylander slaves and serfs of the region were forced to live in poverty supporting their kemling overlords. Rebellions were becoming commonplace, and the bloody reactions to them only led to further seething tension and hatred. Nomadic drylander braves and the dark Atlanteans became a major thorn in the side of the administration, waging guerilla warfare from the desert that consumed the coffers of the empire at an accelerated rate. Diabolists of various types had also always been tolerated, and sorcery was not illegal (at least not for kemlings). Their rule was, as a result, often somewhat chaotic as having those with significant power go dangerously insane from time to time; not to mention the consorting with daemons, meant that the stability of their society was limited. This, combined with massive unrest created a situation ripe for collapse.

The sequence of events about 150 years ago that caused the fall of Baal Hamazi is confused and fraught with a number of obviously false theories, conspiracy theories, and wild speculation, but fall it did, and in the process, the land was wracked with arcane storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other earth-shattering impacts that left much of it uninhabited and temporarily uninhabitable. The capital city of Baal Hamazi itself was buried under a sandstorm.  The rest of the area erupted into full-scale revolt. Nearly every major city was under siege, much of the army had deserted, and even the heir to the king was unable to muster enough support to unite more than a small area under his banner. The capital city was abandoned, and the heir moved his court to nearby Nashur, where his descendants still claim sovereignty over the entire region, and they still claim to rule in "the Old Ways" as Baal Hamazi did in the golden age. This is just posturing, though, and the kings and queens of Nashur have seen a gradual erosion of their power to mere figure-head status. Today, a militaristic warlord rules openly, and is the fourth such warlord to openly run the government.

A few of the rest of the major urban centers eventually emerged intact, although independent. Few kings or chiefs of any stripe have managed to hold onto any power that wasn't local for long. Today, most urban centers are effectively city-states; ruling within their walls, and the surrounding fields and lands, but no further. Most of the territory between the city-states is desolate land, thinly inhabited by tribes who scorn any claims of sovereignty pressed by the city-states. Throughout most of the area, the kemlings have been forced to integrate more with the human castes as well; no longer can they be supported by humans kept in slavery. That was the one nearly universal outcome of the many rebellions. Only Nashur in the far north has managed to keep its old drylander population firmly under the thumb of the kemlings. Given the disaster that befell the capital itself, many kemlings have also consciously reverted to the "uncivilized" state, living as their ancestors in hunter-gatherer tribes. Some  of them have relocated to the inhospitable Gorgelands, where they guard the ruins of Baal Hamazi as cursed and forbid anyone to enter. It's a hard life, but they are trying to reconnect with the ways of their ancestors in the hope that they can win back the favor of their daemonic patron.

Many others live in smaller villages, attempting to put the past behind them. They are, in fact, somewhat embarrassed or even openly ashamed of the daemonic and sorcerous excesses of their forebears, like they have something to live down. They are not very centralized, but live in fortified towns and villages in the more fertile parts of the steppes, hunting semi-domesticated antelope, deer, buffalo, and horses as well as growing what crops they can; often shrubby little things like huckleberries and very hardy grains. Those close enough to the coast also fish and hunt seals and walruses as well as the occasional whale. The reality is, though, that the kemling population has suffered a massive diaspora, and while they still make up a significant plurality in the region, they no longer control it. They barely even control themselves, and there are many individuals who quietly pick up and leave the town life either to join one of the barbarian tribes, if they can make themselves be accepted, or just leave the area altogether, looking for greener pastures elsewhere. And the call of their daemonic blood occasionally means that an entire village, town or even larger area falls prey to the sway of some charismatic cult leader who leads them into strange evil practices.

A kemling making a new life for herself by being as unfeminine as possible and trying to learn knife-fighting.

An expatriate kemling adventurer who trawls the Three Realms as a combination mercenary and treasure hunter.

Another expatriate kemling who's fallen victim to the temptation of sorcery to make her way through the world.

An ancient lingering kemling lich from the days of Empire

The Chersky Mafia is the name that outsiders give to what was once called Наший Вешъ (Nashii Vyesh), "Our Thing." The roots of the kemling mafia go back to the fall of the grand empire of Baal Hamazi itself. When the empire fractured into several independent and quarrelsome city-states and smaller statelets, most kemlings incurred a significant loss of quality of life. Their life of indolence as the privileged overlords of drylander slaves was over, and they now had to work or fight for a standard of living very much below what it had been. While many kemlings shrugged and moved on, and several philosophically minded kemlings even saw the development as inevitable and to be welcomed, most harbored a lingering regret for the glory days of Baal Hamazi.

For most kemlings, this was channeled into trying to either build their more local utopias as best they could within the boundaries of their new city-states, or they fled the area entirely, foregoing their heritage as much as possible, in an attempt to make new lives for themselves in new lands, free of the violence and anarchy that gripped much of their former homelands. But some saw it as their divine mission to restore the kemlings to a place of power and prestige no less glorious than that of the past, and hopefully even much more than before. These individuals in some cases formed organizations dedicated to this mission. Most of them were little more than fanatical race-based supremacy cults, and many fell victim to infighting. One, however, became a powerhouse. Kašku Sarruma was a former military man, hard of personality and competent, not one of the more indolent civilians, and when he called the now leaderless soldiers that fought with him to his side, they answered.

These violent and pitiless men, seeing their society fall to pieces all around them still lacked the resources and manpower to impose order, stability and the type of government that they desired over the mobs, the revolting slaves, the incalcitrant natives, and others. In a bold yet desperate move, Sarruma engaged in a number of actions at once, all designed to forge the organization he needed to attempt multiple coups over the regional independent governments that were springing up all through the territory of the former Baal Hamazi. First, he needed troops. Aggressive yet very selective recruitment drives coupled with indoctrination gave him a core of elite fighters, perhaps more suited to subterfuge, assassination and other "black ops" type activities than to the more overt military action that they were used to. In addition, Sarruma kidnapped young kemling women and girls—never too many from one location, and never any that were important enough to be aggressively missed—and enslaved them, forcing them to serve as little more than brood mares for a new generation of indoctrinated warriors. While treated as well as they could be, these poor women and girls lived a life almost constantly pregnant, in an attempt to grow an army the old-fashioned way as quickly as possible for his fledgling organization.

But all of this distracted Nashii Vyesh's attention away from its original goals, and Sarruma had to admit that he would not be able to establish his glorious kemling rebirth in his lifetime, or probably even for several generations. It also required capital. For that, Sarruma picked some of his most trusted lieutenants to go into other lands and raise money through organized crime, and funnel it back to Nashii Vyesh coffers.

Now, several generations after the fall of Baal Hamazi and the formation of Nashii Vyesh, most of its leadership has forgotten or ignored the mandate of Kašku Sarruma, abandoning even the very name and adopting the title Chersky Mafia that outsiders have given it. The organized crime gig is simply too profitable to put it aside for empire building, and the crime lords covet their positions too much to sacrifice them for patriotic ends. The only interest the Mafia has in politics now is in corrupting politicians to turn a blind eye towards their activities, or giving them heads-up of lucrative opportunities that they can exploit. The leadership remains strictly kemling, but they also don't have any qualms about hiring, exploiting, or even partnering with other gangs, as long as they remain in control. In fact, throughout much of the cities outside of Baal Hamazi proper, the Chersky Mafia—the black mob, referring to the obsidian-like skin color of the kemlings—are notoriously partnered up with the small populations of urban woodwoses to the point that it's almost safe to assume that half of the urban woodwoses that you see are gangsters affiliated with the Chersky Mafia in some cities.

A prosperous Chersky Mafia crime boss

A Cherski Mafia criminal watching a safehouse

And finally, the rules for a kemling from the rulebook. As with my earlier entry, this may need some adjustment to account for the world-building that this post did; although in the case of the kemlings, much of my world-building is of older vintage than it was for the Hyperboreans, and little of it is genuinely new, much of it adapted from Dark•Heritage Mks. IV and V.

Kemling: Like the jann, the kemlings are demihumans, in this case with a daemonic twist to their ancestry.  In the past, they had powerful Imperial polities in the mountains to the West.  Those days are past, and the old kemling empire, Baal Hamazi, is now a Balkanized land of warring city-states and primitive villages and tribes.  In many of these societies, the kemlings no longer hold social and political sway as much as they did in the past, as the formerly oppressed human underclasses have wrested power from them.  Many kemlings have fled the turmoil in their homeland and now live elsewhere as part of a massive kemling diaspora.  Kemlings have soot-dark skin, tiny horns poking up through their hair, and yellow "predator" eyes (think of Nightcrawler from the X-men with Darth Maul horns poking through his hair).  Kemlings gain +1 to DEX, a racial affinity for Stealth, and the ability to see in the dark with a biological equivalent to night vision goggles.

A relatively normal prosperous kemling women in a relatively normal situation. I sometimes don't feel like I do enough "regular everyday" images in my samples sometimes.