Dark Fantasy X Race Deep Dive: Surturs

To the north and west of the mapped out section of the Three Realms is the Empire of Kurushat. Originally founded on a volcanic island (reminiscent of real-life Iceland or Spitzbergen), it was settled by a couple of different northern peoples in small numbers who raised sheep and cattle on the green grass amid the dark volcanic rock, blasted by winds from the sea, and having little in the way of trees because of the subarctic climate, except in some sheltered valleys and gorges. Glaciers top the inactive volcanos and ice floes occasionally pass by near the harbors, but in this land of water and ice, there is also a strong element of fire because of the numerous active volcanos that are building the islands even now. It's not clear exactly how the first surturs came out of this environment. Some legends say that they, or at least their more elemental ancestors, simply walked out of the volcanos themselves, which are gates to the fiery Otherworldly realm of Muspelheim, and that the original Surtur himself, the fire jotunn, is their ancestor. Others suggest that they were normal people cursed or transformed by the malign intent of one of the ancient Heresiarchs, perhaps Esmeraude, She Who Ushers In the Apocalypse, who is known to have an affinity and fascination with fire. Whichever is the truth, the surturs arrived on the mainland, conquering and colonizing; settling and trading. They weren't genocidal, so many of the people who were already there are integrated into their northern Empire, but given the harsher boreal climate, the population was always relatively light anyway. Most of the itinerant hunter-gatherers who lived there saw their standard of living increase tremendously upon the arrival of the surturs, who had a fair bit of noblesse oblige for those who welcomed them—although tremendous belligerence to those who did not. 

Kurushat is largely a coastal empire, and the climate is similar to that of the Alaskan southern coast, or Scandinavia, but once you get inland, you have either tundra and mammoth steppe, or boreal forest (taiga) and wild mountains. Free northerners still live inland from Kurushat, and many have friendly trading relationships with the empire, although raiding, as is common in barbaric societies, is not unknown. Kurushat, at its peak a few generations ago, stretched down deep into the northern Three Realms, although the settlement of Kurushan citizens of any type, surtur or human, was always relatively light. The territory around Dagan Bay was their foothold, and some cities that still stand, such as Sinjagat, Vuukrat, or Volek Szemenok on Palar Lake were founded by Kurushans. Both the kemlings and the surturs look at Glittering Simashki and claim to be responsible for it, and both races still make up notable pluralities in the population. 

Kurushat expanded into the region as the Baal Hamazi empire was fading. The Boneyard gets its name because of the vast armies loyal to the two empires who clashed over the territory, leaving their bleached bones to linger on the sands and among the sagebrush and juniper scrubland, but in reality, few of any people ever lived in the Boneyard, which was called the Indash Desert at the time. As the Indash Sea withdrew, becoming smaller and saltier and more xeric, boats, fleets, and even entire towns were left high and dry, now abandoned and ghostly echoes of Kurushat's expansion into the region. Climate change is only part of what happened to Kurushat, however. As the Empire grew more powerful and more peaceful, its vigor slowly drained, and the concerns of faraway southern colonies surrounded by hostile nations, barbarians and harsh climate seemed much less important to the indolent jeds and jeddak of Kurushat.

Today, the sections of colonial Kurushat that still remain on the map are independent city-states, abandoned by the Empire for the most part, like post-Roman Britain. Some of the surturs and Northerner humans who came during the expansion period remain—or rather, their posterity does. Although never the majority in any of their cities, the Kurushan culture, mostly driven by the surturs themselves who were the carriers of it, are important elements in the cities named above, as well as the surrounding areas, but all of them have also become syncretized and hybridized by exposure to the peoples who were already here, or who have arrived since (such as the area near Bucknerfeld, where Hillman have come right to the edges of the salt flats that ring the Indash Salt Sea.

The surturs of Lower Kurushat, as they still sometimes call the region, are not an overly proud people, seeing the retreat of their empire and the abandonment of their settlements with a mixture of peevishness, but also opportunity to chart their own course in a new land without the oversight of tyrannical jeds and other hetmen. Most have abandoned any notion of attempting to recreate or maintain Kurushan culture, becoming rather fond of the more cosmopolitan syncretic cultures that they live in. Surturs are famously intense in their passions and quick-tempered, but also gregarious and social and more likely to be friendly by nature than most other races (naturally individual personality and situation can cause this to be quite variable.) For those with a darker tendency, this is still true, although their social gregariousness will sometimes manifest as narcissism, degeneracy, and other traits that make them extremely toxic, even if they aren't outright violent and belligerent (although the sharp tempers often make that likely too.) 

Like most demihumans in Dark Fantasy X, there is a curse associated with the surturs, which manifests just barely often enough to rise above the level of urban myth to something that is actually verified.  There is still a lingering connection of some sort between Muspelheim and the surturs.  Every once in a while, a burning flame will find its way from Muspelheim to a surtur person, who will spontaneously combust in a wild conflagration that can consume entire houses, or any nearby people.  Luckily, this is rare, but it has been known to happen, and the surturs themselves have a body of lore and old wives tales about spontaneous combustion, how to avoid it, how to cause it in your rivals, etc.

From a meta perspective, it's easy to see the surturs as a kind of northern race, with some similarities to the Vikings, some to more eastern northern peoples such as the Slavs, Finns, or other Siberian peoples, but also a prominent nod toward the red men of Barsoom, which informs many of their names and titles, as well as their fiery yet usually honorable personalities, or at least a culture which demands such, even if individuals may not be as honorable as their culture expects of them. Their supernatural origin, and their ancient clashes with the kemlings make them different than any human culture, real or imagined, however, and those who remain south of the boreal forest barrier that separates Lower Kurushat from Kurushat proper are more likely to be traders, adventurers, mercenaries, occasionally bandits, and a somewhat arrogant overcaste; confident in their superiority, yet mostly imbued with a noblesse oblige to the peoples who live in their cosmopolitan communities. Many of them still act as if the Imperial weight of Kurushat gives them authority, but the reality is that all of the Lower Kurushat area is now essentially independent city-states who must rule themselves with very little if any contact with Kurushat to the north anymore, which is why the various other peoples who live there have risen in prominence socially as the Kurushat Imperial structure retreated to the north. 

In terms of terminology, Kurushans and surturs are often used interchangeably, but technically a surtur is a member of the race, regardless of cultural or political affiliation, whereas Kurushans are members of the culture of Kurushat, regardless of race. However, in practical terms, that distinction often doesn't mean too much. Physically the surturs are as tall and robust as a hillmen (or typical white guy, for a real life reference), but are notable for their bright (sometimes unnaturally so) reddish or blond hair, brick red skin that sometimes tends towards sooty in the darkest of them, and red, orange or golden eyes. As the Dark Fantasy X rules suggest, the fire strike ability represents their connection to Muspelheim and their ability to call on the fiery elemental heritage that makes them different than humans.

Bahram Khanwar, an anti-PC villain and iconic surtur

His perverse and degenerate twin sister Javaira, also an iconic anti-PC.

Reasonably well-trained and capable swordmaidens often serve as a kind of figurehead or inspiration for bands of surtur mercenaries and warbands, when they form them. In some cases, these are little more than camp whores for the entire company, but in other cases, they are seen as extremely noble and a kind of foreign chivalric tradition of courtly loyalty and love has sprung up around them from the men in their companies.

Notice the unusual hair that is common to many surturs, and which is often believed to imitate the fire which surrounded their more elemental ancestors.

A traditional Larch Grove dancer, a pseudo-religious and cultural tradition that goes back to the ancient island home of the Kurushans.

Exploration of the wilderness is a passion of many surturs, and with the mammoth steppe and boreal forest around them, as well as many craggy and dramatic mountain ranges, there are great opportunities for exploratory teams, outfitted much as this fellow here, to find excitement. Their adventures are recounted to enthralled audiences when they return home, usually for the winter season. A kind of extreme adventurer tourism has sprung up among the wealthier surturs who don't need to work, to strike out and explore the remnants of distant Hyperborea to the east in the brief spring, summer and fall for that area. Although this is dangerous and many fail in this attempt, those who make it to Hyperborea and return with the tales of their journey almost become celebrities in Kurushat. Some of this still remains in Volek Szemenok, although it happens very infrequently there; one expedition a generation being about as good as it gets.

This free trader probably runs back and forth on the Great Northern Road between Vuukrat, Volek Szemenok, Bucknerfeld and Lomar with caravans of goods. His dress and demeanor shows a lot of drylander inspiration, and that he's probably fairly successful and prosperous. 

Not to give the impression that all surturs are happy-go-lucky and friendly swashbucklers. This guy is no doubt a criminal or bandit, who would be extremely dangerous to encounter in a quiet stretch of road or dark alley.

Sometimes the fiery passion that is the inheritance of the surturs turns to a smoldering bitterness and anger. The three mercenaries shown here are frighteningly berserk physical combatants, with a hot rage always just under the surface.

Although the noble titles of old Kurushat are largely irrelevant in Lower Kurushat today, the scions of the old jed's houses still maintain a status not at all unlike nobility in their demesnes.

The Burnt Seers are a kind of weird roving cult of soothsayers and hedge magicians that are part of Kurushan society, notable for their spiraling black tattoos and often socially and politically disruptive actions. When one, or a small company of them, roll into town, the local authorities are reluctant for superstitious reasons to outright run them out, but they keep a very close eye on them and curtail their ability to make trouble as best as they can.

Two typical traveler/adventurer style surturs

I sometimes forget to focus on intrigue as a theme. Here's a surtur spy.