"Species of Sundara" Takes Aim at Monolithic Fantasy Races

If you've played most mainstream fantasy RPGs for any length of time then you've likely noticed the issue where all the non-human creatures become monolithic. Flip through most books out there, and you'll find that humans get half a dozen different ethnicities and cultures, each varying wildly across the setting. Then you look at halflings, and find they're all basic copy/pastes of the Shire. You look at orcs, and they have a nearly universal culture of violence and 'might makes right.' You flip to goblins and find they're just this big, discordant wad of gnashing teeth and chaos no matter where you go. And so on, and so forth.

Some settings will change things up and give you a few different varieties of a particular creature. You see this in elves and dwarves in DND 5E, where they have sub-races for players to choose from at character creation. Even in games where there's some variety, though, we tend to fall back into tropes and stereotypes where elves are all aloof ancients of the forest, dwarves are all brash, heavy-drinking Scotsmen from the mountains, etc.

And I wanted to do something to break players and game masters alike out of that mindset. Which is why I've been working on the latest series of releases for my setting titled Species of Sundara!

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Cultures, Customs, Languages, and More!

As a designer I understand the purposes these monolithic cultures serve as a tool. It takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to develop parts of a world, and giving every single species its own set of involved customs and culture, its own history and languages, and its own unique religious beliefs can be exhausting when taken along with all the other aspects of designing a game. And that's before you come up with dozens of different languages and dialects, and try to envision what physical differences (both cosmetic and more-than-cosmetic) that exist between different iterations of the same species. Every new addition is one more thing that needs to add value to the game, and provide useful tools for players and GMs alike, and that's a tall order.

But I'm trying to do that anyway.

There's more to us than meets the eye.

That's the goal of my Species of Sundara project, which debuted recently with Elves of Sundara (which is currently available for Pathfinder Classic, as well as Dungeons and Dragons 5E). Each of these books takes a look at a player species, discuss the various languages they use and how they developed, discuss at least 5 different variations of the species, and provide broad discussions of their environments, their cultures, and their customs.

As an example, elves in Sundara are still recognizable in many ways. They have an extremely long lifespan, they are often thought of as keepers of ancient wisdom, and many times they keep themselves apart from even their proximate neighbors. However, the central theme of elves in this setting is that they are able to adapt themselves to their environments and purposes. This is often done on a deeply physical level, which means that elves you find living in the old growth forests are quite different from those who live atop the mountains, or those who have honed themselves to the singular purpose of war. This adaptability also means that elves are capable of having children with any sentient species, which leads to its own unique permutations that will be covered in a later book.

But while there are defined physical changes between different broad groups (the Rashar, for example, have developed fast-clotting blood that makes them nearly immune to bleed effects, whereas the Malisus have developed light sensitivity due to their primary adaptation being in the Underworld), a point I make clearly is that not every culture is made up solely of certain heritages and bloodlines. Cultures are fluid, and elves who may boast features and abilities inherited from one family may be adopted by, or simply raised in, a different elven culture. Some may have extended family, political alliances, or simply be neighbors with, those who are different than themselves. Additionally, intermarrying may result in traits broadly associated with one group of elves showing up in someone born to a different group. So while there are different sections in the book, there's quite a lot of bleed over that creates gray areas for players and GMs to get creative with.

Also, for those who didn't catch it, go check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Elves over on my 5 Tips page!

Thinking Outside Defined Boxes

The goal with this series is to break down the ideas of species-based monoliths, not just by providing a larger number of more defined cultures and physical heritages, but to also make it clear that these things are fluid. There are no firm lines drawn that keep someone in a box, and players and GMs are encouraged to get creative with the specifics regarding backgrounds in their games. Because language, culture, family, religion, and experience should all come together to form a unique individual who will have influences from all these different aspects, but who should still be more than just the sum of their parts.

Mostly what I said recently in Remember That Characters Are Still Individuals.

Lastly, though I am trying to fill these splats with as much useful information as I can, there is another important point made in them; that these options are far from the only ones available in the setting. So if players or GMs want to create unique settlements and cultures with their own rules and traditions, that's to be encouraged in Sundara! Because while I can provide a sample to get one's creativity started, I don't want players to feel like they have to color within certain lines when it comes to the cultures their characters can be from, or the influences that shaped them into who and what they are.

Because if I had to choose, I'd much rather have enthusiasm to be creative and unique than to have other players or GMs arguing that because a particular species or culture tends to be one way, then a player has to fall in line with those elements.

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