As I mentioned in a previous post my brain is stuck on creating new fantasy races for RPGs by using real-world creatures as inspiration. Today’s inspiration is the Gerenuk.
Some of the highlights that catch my imagination:
- Herd animal
- Runs very fast
- The long neck is pretty ridiculous looking
- Renown as a humble creature. From Wikipedia, “In ancient African tribal tales, the gerenuk has often been crowned ‘Queen of Humbleness.'”
The Walleri of the Plains of Waving Grass
Beyond the Slow River and the Hills of the Eagle lies the homeland of the friendly and welcoming Walleri. This four-legged humanoid resembles the ancient centaurs of the past, save for the incredible length of their neck. While they physically tower over most of the other races, their humble personalities are such that they are brought back down to earth.
They’ve never retired their herd instinct and so a Walleri is never to be found alone, or even in a single pair. They are most comfortable when they are gathered in a cluster of at least a half dozen or more. This has led to them being masters at group dynamics and organization.
Kingdoms as far away as across the Lost Azure Sea seek out Walleri advisors for this expertise with groups. They manage large events and affairs of state through local fairs in perfect order. Guests to such events talk of it for years to come. And if ever a Walleri would set aside its disdain—and embedded fear—for violence, they would make marvelous army advisors for troops and supplies.
The Walleri are neutral in the affairs of others and have worked as a mediating force for many of the neighboring kingdoms, bringing about peace more often than not.
There are no individual spellcasters among the Walleri, as if the ability was sharded across the herd. Using magic among them is a matter of aligning the correct collection of participants, called a Bewitching of Walleri, who all cast as one. The efforts of a Bewitching are never less than grand of a scale, both in effect and participation. Magics used by Bewitching can literally move mountains but require a great amount of daily effort over time.
You are welcome to use this text for your own stuff, using the license below. Make sure that you let me know what you’re using it for on Twitter at @amazingrando.
This work by Randy Oest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.