Windborne

''“A Windborne sailor is a survivor! We go where we want, take what we want, become who we want. The only master we bow down to is the sea.”'' - Sigrid Seven-Scars, to her children Asa and Erle

Locations
Balmy Isles, any ocean

Typical Physical Attributes
A tall, long-limbed people with fair, red or light brown hair. Their naturally fair complexion is often ruddy or tanned by a life at sea.

Prevailing values
Windborne culture is driven by - and indeed has survived by virtue of - curiosity. Young people are expected to sail for parts unknown so they can gain independence, experience, and confidence. The purpose of this is not specifically to gain and distribute factual knowledge; indeed, the Windborne prize a good, nicely exaggerated story over a dry, factual account: exploring a story is nonetheless exploring.

Aesthetics
Windborne prefer simple, practical designs in bright colors. As they travel, they tend to absorb foreign influences, and display them proudly. Outside of their ships, Windborne often carry all their wealth on their person, whether in tools or jewelry.

History
The ancestors of the Windborne were Enkindler farmers and herders in Grazeland, in the area now known as White Dunes. Back then it was a temperate region that wasn’t particularly fertile, but good for raising sheep and cattle. They’d cut away the forests to make way for fields and pasture, and from the trees they made ships, which allowed supplementing their diet and economy.

Grazelander trade was burgeoning when disaster struck. First came the Pale Plague, which decimated their herds, followed by the Ashen Blight, which destroyed crops and trees where they stood. In desperation, the Grazelanders loaded what they could onto their ships and sought new lands.

Relations with the Argent Coast and The Weald had been poor for generations, and they were chased off at spearpoint. As storm season approached, they had no choice but to brave The Torrids - a violently inhospitable area of sea around islands that were rumoured to be lush and verdant.

Many perished in the crossing, but the survivors made it to a windy archipelago much less fertile than they hoped for. There was very little arable land, instead the rocky isles were dominated by huge, straight-boled trees that gave shade to hardy grasses.

Now entirely reliant on the sea, the people who now called themselves Windborne - in thanks to the winds that carried them through the Torrids - set to turning the great trees into enormous ships that could endure even the harshest weather.

Over the centuries, the Windborne have established themselves as the greatest military and economic power in the seas of Venturia. Their immense, ornate sailing ships ply the trade routes, vomiting forth fleets of smaller ships to trade with (and occasionally raid) coastal areas everywhere.

With the ascent of the Saltbloods as a nautical power, tensions are running high on the oceans blue. The Windborne look with suspicion at the ever-growing coral vessels of their younger kin, and armed conflict between the two peoples is already a fairly common occurrence. Then again, both are known for trading goods, services and blows with all comers.

Relations
Aureates: While the Windborne are marked by an aggressiveness uncustomary for Aureates, they get along quite well due to long-standing and wide-spanning commercial interests. Enkindlers: While Windborne have retained much as the militaristic and industrious nature of their forebears, the sedentary lifestyle is no longer for them. Saltbloods: Orcs: Dwarves: Sylvan Elves: Sea Elves: Gieldans: Halcyans: