Daetrolos: A Short Study on Forns

“Like walking, grass-covered hills masquerading as a sentient race, the Forns are an imposing species of elemental and statue-like beings. A truly ancient and primeval race, the Forns originate from the High Mountains at the northern end of the Nordfeld province of the Bulrin Empire. The Forns regard themselves as the wise protectors of nature and are generally respected by races of smaller statures. The Forns are something of a lonely race, they do not often meet with other members of their race and this sometimes causes observers to see them as aloof or feral. Most definitely, this is not the case. Forns merely do not crave the company and protection of others, like Humans do for example. Indeed, a Forn is not a being that has much cause to fear other creatures or races in the mountains. Their sheer size and stature affords them much safety. Because of this same stature, the Forns are held in great reverence by the people of the Nordfeld province, who view them as spirits of nature.

The Forns, by their own admittance, are moderately cold creatures. They even claim to eschew emotions altogether. The few conversations i have actually had with Forns do indeed show that they don’t publicly display emotions, even to each other. Their words do, however, belay a certain great wisdom and intelligence. They pick up different languages very easily.  Because of this coldness, they do not act as a Human would in a given situation. They believe in the “greater good” and do not usually view individuals as particularly valued. A Forn will think little of sacrificing itself to save allies or innocents.

The average Forn is huge, standing at about 10-12 feet tall. Their large bodies are made up of stone, grey fur and ashen muscly flesh. Forns can come in several shapes, from wide shouldered brutes to towering, slender giants. The stone body parts they own, usually the arms, legs or head, give further credence to the elemental spirit theory held by the Nordfeld peoples. Forns survive on very little matter, even eating rocks or gravel. They do not even appear to require to ingest liquids of any kind. This enables Forns to survive up in the forbidding High Mountains with little trouble. Other than these precious few facts, very little is known about the biology of these legendary creatures. They certainly don’t appear to be particularly willing to speak of such things.

The original meeting between Mankind and the Forns unfortunately ended in a hefty measure of bloodshed. The first Human settlers of the Nordfeld province saw the giant Forns as monsters, perhaps beings of Dust, and hunted and attacked them on sight. Large parties of Human hunters even tracked the innocent Forns for days before attacking en masse. These first few encounters almost always ended in the retreat of the hunters under the awesome physical strength of the Forns. Indeed, an individual Forn could shrug off arrows and blades with little trouble and each swipe could topple whole groups of Humans.

It was not until the full Bulrin army marched into the mountains that the Forns finally banded together to protect themselves. The martial discipline of the Bulrin army matched against a wall of Forns.  However, the ensuing battle was interrupted by the truly colossal frame of the “Meistari”. If a Forn is a walking hill, then the Meistari is a walking mountain. This near-mythic member of the Forn race, who is held in reverence by the Forn people, individually stormed through the Bulrin army demanding an audience with its leader, the now late Emperor Augustus Bulrin. After a brief exchange, the Bulrin empire had unexpectedly made an alliance with the Forn race. The exact circumstances of this negotiation are lost to the annals of time, they died with the Emperor on his death bed. The alliance had the sole aim of ending the bloodshed and to forge a new understanding of each race. Shortly after the agreement was sealed, the Meistari vanished back into the mountains and has never been seen since.

Ever since that time, the Humans of the Bulrin empire have honored their Forn allies, and the Forns have often marched to war under the Bulrin standard. Lending their large frames and tremendous physical strength to the cause. They often act as walking supply caravans, battering rams and ‘one-Forn line-breakers. Forns don’t really appear to trust many Humans outside of the Bulrin empire and as such, seem to have developed a particular dislike for the Riefans. I hope that the future of the Forns lies in peace, their peaceful temperaments do not suit war and intrigue, in my opinion…”

From the memoirs of Hermann Maestra.