The elves are a warrior people, and fighting is very important to them. They practice a martial art of their own development called “capoeira*,” which emphasizes graceful mobility, dodges and kicks. Often times, the elves go into battle with small drums secured to their chests. Even as they lash out with their legs, their hands busily drum out a beat to demoralize their foes and bolster themselves.

Battle is a long, drawn out affair for the elves. Blades attached to the soles of their shoes deliver shallow cuts, slowly bleeding their enemies. This is in stark contrast to the human barbarians, which favor powerful blows which rarely connect, but often kill on the first hit.

The human barbarians actually enjoy fighting the elves, as they are a masochistic culture. To them, pain is strength. Most of their customs involve tests of endurance to see who can withstand the most pain for the longest. Their marriage ceremony culminates with the husband and wife choking each other until one passes out.

The most dedicated of their warriors undergo the ritual of Kardak, thrusting their left hand into a bear paw-shaped mold filled with molten iron. Afterwards, they are anointed as priests of Magdar, and adamantine claws are attached to the iron forever grafted to their hand.

*Capoeira is a Brazillian martial art. Go check out some youtube videos of it.

Encounters with the Barbarians of Mosh’tardin

One of the PCs gains the respect of an elder human barbarian. After several nights of revelry, the elder invites the PC to undergo the Kardak. Not accepting would be taken as an unrivaled insult to the barbarians.

The PCs are asked to capture one of the rare silver-pawed monkeys from the Mosh’tardin forest. Naturally, they run afoul of the elvish barbarians in attempting to do so.

Muscovites live in extended families, similar to tribes, and each family controls its own little region of Svalbard. Each of the extended families is composed of multiple smaller families centered around a male patron. The patron leads the family until he passes the honor and responsibility to another in a ceremony called the Skjebdiv. After the Skjebdiv, the former patron acts as an adviser to his successor.

The extended families are ruled by the patron of the most influential nuclear family, given the title of Czartun. There are five of those extended families, and hence there are five Czartuns. One Czartun– called the Czar– rules above all Muscovites; he is chosen by an election held every twelve years, or held sooner if the current Czartun dies. Only the Czartuns may vote in the election, and the Czar may not come from the family of either of the current or former Czars; hence, there are always three candidates.

The Czar remains in the capitol city of Musko, and during his reign he has a trusted agent, usually his brother, remain with the family and act as a sort of proxy Czartun. The Czar’s primary responsibilities are to serve as a mediator between the other families and to coordinate the defense of Svalbard.

Svalbard is rich with coal deposits, though the Muscovites’ mining techniques are rudimentary and inefficient. They make most of their money through mercenary services. Every mother is required to send her first-, third- and fifth-born children to Musko, where they will be trained and then hired out. This mandatory service lasts four years, and in addition to the money it brings in it also helps ensure that the Muscovite army is not only well-trained, but experienced as well.

The Muscovites worship Magdar, the Bearlord. Highly-ranking Muscovites are given panserbjörne, armored bears. The panserbjörne are fearsome in battle and utterly loyal to their handler. The mere sight of a mighty Muscovite astride his terrifying bear is often enough to defuse an altercation before it starts.

Encounters with the Muscovites

When the PCs decide that they need to hire some mercenaries for their latest capers, they end up hiring a young Muscovite fresh out of training. The lad is hardy and brave, but fights poorly, and is very interested in learning from the experienced PCs.

A PC who thoroughly ingratiates himself to a Czartun could be given a panserbjörne as a special reward.

There are rumors that they were first born by the mating of elves and dwarves, and that the two have committed to a great conspiracy to hide the truth. Another popular belief is that the humans were created by the gods as a punishment for some long-forgotten crime to conquer the world, earning them the sobriquet “the Chosen.”

Nonetheless, the humans have proven a remarkably rugged race which has risen to prominence despite its youth. They say that there are now as many humans as there are others combined, and it is not a difficult claim to believe.

The burgeoning human civilizations faced many hardships. All the other races resented the Chosen, and early on it was all they could do to stave off war and extinction. Lacking military strength, they relied on their charisma and guile. Even today, humans are renowned for their skills at diplomacy and negotiation.

Not welcome anywhere else, the humans built their settlements in neglected floodplains along rivers. They developed dams to save themselves from having to rebuild every year, and the permanent settlements that allowed proved an incredible boon. Now the humans could control of the rivers, and thus control trade.

Not despite, but because of, their short lives, the humans are the foremost academics in the world as well. The other races are content to passively allow themselves to soak in knowledge over the years; to a human, time is short and precious, and knowledge must be accumulated, codified, and dispersed as efficiently as possible.

Human universities can be found on all corners of the globe; even some of the largest elven and dwarven cities now host them. The dwarves have a grudging respect for the metallurgical advances human alchemists discover, while the elves are barely able to keep up with the magical advances. The elves have a natural affinity for magic, true, but what the humans lack in talent they more than make up for in inspiration.