Fantasy Race Generator: Build a People From Real Folklore

One press draws a kind from real folklore and gives it a face, a homeland, a custom, a reputation and a rumor, and you lock the rows worth keeping.

Fantasy Race Generator: Build a People From Real Folklore: 20 fantasy races

A kind of pixie with hair that smells of warm bread. They keep to a plateau of hot springs ringed by snow peaks, where they keep a written record of every promise made. They are known for soup that cures homesickness. Their neighbors say they invented the nap.

  • Folklore kindpixie
  • Marked featurehair that smells of warm bread
  • Homelanda plateau of hot springs ringed by snow peaks
  • How they livekeep a written record of every promise made
  • Known forsoup that cures homesickness
  • Neighbors saythey invented the nap
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    Fantasy Race of the day

     

    1. A kind of dokkaebi with eyes that hold a faint light after dusk. They keep to the tidal flats that vanish twice a day, where they settle inheritance by ordeal, not by birth. They are known for hats of astonishing height. Their neighbors say their songs can calm a river in flood.
    2. A kind of elf with a shadow that keeps its hat on indoors. They keep to the hedgerows along a lazy brown river, where they bind alliances with an exchange of songs. They are known for a choir that armies have stopped to hear. Their neighbors say they ring a bell at night and will not say for whom.
    3. A kind of goblin with cheeks that glow like lanterns when they are pleased. They keep to the ash slopes and boiling pools of a live volcano, where they vote with colored stones cast into a bowl. They are known for coffins no grave robber has ever opened. Their neighbors say they can cross water without a boat.
    4. A kind of domovoy with eyes clouded white that still see well enough. They keep to a snowy valley with a hot spring at its head, where they appoint one official grumbler to air complaints. They are known for jam that wins every fair for fifty miles. Their neighbors say they taught the first smiths and regret it.
    5. A kind of kappa with a pulse too faint to find. They keep to the back gardens along a town's forgotten stream, where they forbid mirrors and whistling after dark. They are known for glasswork so fine it rings in the wind. Their neighbors say they taught the cuckoo its only song.
    6. A kind of giant with breath that frosts even in high summer. They keep to a crescent bay under cliffs of blue slate, where they inherit a recipe instead of a surname. They are known for lanterns that burn without oil. Their neighbors say their songs can calm a river in flood.
    7. A kind of jötunn with cheeks that glow like lanterns when they are pleased. They keep to the long sea-cliffs and their ruined lighthouses, where they settle inheritance by ordeal, not by birth. They are known for giving directions that are scenic rather than short. Their neighbors say no one who wronged them has died in bed.
    8. A kind of brownie with hair as stiff and dark as wet thatch. They keep to the tidal flats that vanish twice a day, where they tell the bees every piece of family news. They are known for a library copied out fresh every generation. Their neighbors say they turn invisible when they are embarrassed.
    9. A kind of merfolk with eyes clouded white that still see well enough. They keep to a battlefield marsh that no one will plow, where they sleep through the coldest month and wake hungry. They are known for pies with something different in every slice. Their neighbors say they never sit with their backs to a door.
    10. A kind of tengu with a voice no louder than a kettle, however angry. They keep to a flooded quarry and the spoil heaps around it, where they follow a calendar of thirteen named winds. They are known for festivals that run three days past the plan. Their neighbors say they never forgive and never forget a face.
    11. A kind of sylph with hair the color of new copper wire. They keep to a forest clearing with a pool that never freezes, where they appoint one official grumbler to air complaints. They are known for giving directions that are scenic rather than short. Their neighbors say they can follow a trail three winters cold.
    12. A kind of jötunn with skin that freckles silver under a full moon. They keep to the high passes at the head of three rivers, where they keep two names, one for kin and one for strangers. They are known for mending anything left on the doorstep overnight. Their neighbors say the crows report to them.
    13. A kind of peri with a scent of apples and woodsmoke. They keep to the water meadows below an old stone bridge, where they pay their debts in buttons and favors. They are known for never leaving a debt unpaid or a slight unanswered. Their neighbors say no one who wronged them has died in bed.
    14. A kind of kitsune with knuckles that crack out a tune. They keep to the long sea-cliffs and their ruined lighthouses, where they trade in riddles when coin runs short. They are known for lockpicks, false bottoms and hidden doors. Their neighbors say their geese understand every word you say.
    15. A kind of gnome with silver-flecked eyes that widen in starlight. They keep to a lighthouse rock and the tide pools around it, where they tell the bees every piece of family news. They are known for never once arriving on time. Their neighbors say their grandmothers can knit a fog.
    16. A kind of korrigan with noses that twitch before good news. They keep to a river gorge bridged by living roots, where they pay their debts in buttons and favors. They are known for a wine that tastes of the year it was made. Their neighbors say they once lost a whole summer and blame each other.
    17. A kind of giant with eyes that hold a faint light after dusk. They keep to a chain of lake islands joined by rope bridges, where they never travel in groups smaller than three. They are known for poetry that other peoples learn by heart. Their neighbors say they never forgive and never forget a face.
    18. A kind of cyclops with a voice no louder than a kettle, however angry. They keep to the high passes at the head of three rivers, where they inherit a recipe instead of a surname. They are known for lockpicks, false bottoms and hidden doors. Their neighbors say the crows report to them.
    19. A kind of leprechaun with breath that frosts even in high summer. They keep to a village well and the lanes that lead to it, where they never start a journey on an empty stomach. They are known for armor as light as a winter coat. Their neighbors say no one who wronged them has died in bed.
    20. A kind of selkie with knuckles that crack out a tune. They keep to the back gardens along a town's forgotten stream, where they hold a feast whenever anyone finds a lost thing. They are known for gardens that bloom a month before anyone else's. Their neighbors say they were old when the first cities were new.

    Next step Build the place they call homeDraw the land around their homeland

    Fantasy Race Generator: Build a People From Real Folklore: how it works

    This fantasy race generator starts from real folklore. One press draws one of 49 kinds, from the Cornish knocker to the Korean dokkaebi, then gives it a marked feature, a homeland, a custom, a reputation and a rumor the neighbors repeat. Use it as a random fantasy race generator: lock the rows that suit your world and press again.

    Three troll peoples, one ancestor

    Lock Folklore kind on troll and press New fantasy race three times. You get three troll peoples with one ancestor and nothing else in common, which is how a world gets rivals. Lock Homeland instead to see who else lives on that coast. Copy the paragraph, save it with the heart, or print 20 peoples on one sheet.

    What the old stories say

    The full list under the tool names each kind's tradition and one checked line. Early Norse sources never call dwarfs small, and dwarfs is the usual plural. Cobalt ore is said to be named for the mischief of mine spirits later called kobolds. A kappa will return a deep bow, spilling the water it carries on its head. Start from the old story and your people will not read as a copy.

    Tips

    • Treat the rumor as gossip. Decide whether it is true, half true or a slander spread by a rival, and you have a plot.
    • Rename them once the draw is done. A kind of nixie is a starting point; your own name makes the people yours.
    • Some kinds are still honored: the fox is Inari's messenger at Shinto shrines, and kappa and kodama have shrines of their own in Japan. Borrow the shape with respect, and never rebuild a real-world people under a made-up name.

    Questions and answers

    How many fantasy races can it make?

    49 kinds times 72 features, 72 homelands, 72 customs, 72 reputations and 72 rumors gives 94,810,963,968 combinations. Nothing repeats within a row until the whole row has been dealt, and today's fantasy race of the day is the same on every screen.

    Why is there no orc or halfling?

    The kind row draws only on traditional folklore. The orc as a people of soldiers comes from twentieth-century fiction; the old word appears once in Beowulf, as orcneas, and its meaning is uncertain. Halfling is an old Scots word for a half-grown youth that novels and games borrowed later. Nothing here is taken from a published game, novel or film.

    Can I get only grim or only fairy-tale results?

    There is no tone switch yet. Each invented row holds 24 high-fantasy, 24 fairy-tale and 24 grim lines. Reroll a row until its tone suits, then lock it. For the place they live, try the random setting generator.

    More like this

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    Folklore kind: all 49 kinds

    British, Irish and Breton 11

    • boggart Northern England: a household nuisance said to follow the family even when they move house.
    • brownie Scottish household lore: works by night for a bowl of cream and leaves for good if given clothes.
    • fairy British and Irish lore: cold iron, church bells, a four-leaf clover and clothes worn inside out were all charms against them.
    • hobgoblin English household lore: does odd jobs while the family sleeps, is paid in food and leaves if given clothes.
    • knocker Cornish mines: knocks on the rock to warn of a collapse; miners threw it the last bite of a pasty.
    • korrigan Brittany: the Breton name means small dwarf; they haunt wells and like to dance around fountains.
    • leprechaun Ireland: a solitary shoemaker who, in accounts before the 20th century, wore red rather than green.
    • pixie Devon and Cornwall: leads travelers astray on the moors; a coat turned inside out breaks the spell.
    • púca Celtic lore: a shape-changer seen as a horse, goat, cat, dog or hare; reapers left it a share of the crop.
    • selkie Orkney and Shetland: a seal in the water and a person on land, once the sealskin comes off.
    • trow Orkney and Shetland: comes out at night, loves fiddle music and was said to carry off fiddlers.

    Germanic and Nordic 8

    • dwarf Germanic lore: master smiths who live in mountains and stones; early Norse sources never call them small.
    • elf Germanic lore: Old English medical texts blame elves for sudden illness in people and livestock.
    • huldufólk Iceland and the Faroes: the hidden folk of rocks and mounds; food is left out for them at Christmas.
    • jötunn Norse myth: usually translated as giant, though the sources do not make them all notably large.
    • kobold German lore: a house spirit that does chores when treated well; cobalt ore is said to be named for the mischief of mine spirits that later writers also called kobolds.
    • nisse Nordic farms: guards the livestock and expects Christmas Eve porridge with a pat of butter on top.
    • nixie Germanic lore: shapeshifting water spirits; the male nix plays the violin in brooks and waterfalls.
    • troll Nordic lore: lives in small family groups among rocks and caves, and turns to stone in sunlight.

    Greek, Roman and wider Europe 13

    • centaur Greek myth: horse-bodied people of Thessaly who fought the Lapiths at a wedding feast.
    • cyclops Greek myth: Hesiod's forge the thunderbolt of Zeus, Homer's are lawless shepherds; the name means round-eye.
    • duende Spain, Portugal and Latin America: the Castilian name is a contraction of master of the house.
    • faun Roman lore: spirits of lonely rustic places who frightened travelers but also guided those in need.
    • giant European lore: across Europe, the ruins of older civilizations were said to be the work of giants.
    • gnome Renaissance alchemy: Paracelsus described earth spirits that pass through rock as we pass through air.
    • goblin European lore: small, grotesque and often spiteful; the Old French word gobelin is recorded from 1195.
    • merfolk Told worldwide: the English word mermaid joins mere, an old word for sea, to maid, by about 1390.
    • nymph Greek myth: nature spirits each tied to one place, such as a spring, a tree, a mountain or the sea.
    • ogre French fairy tales: the word came into wide use through Charles Perrault's tales of the 1690s.
    • satyr Greek myth: companions of Dionysus, shown in early art with a horse's ears and tail, not goat legs.
    • sylph Renaissance alchemy: the air spirits of Paracelsus, who coined the word in the 16th century.
    • undine Renaissance alchemy: the water spirits of Paracelsus, named from the Latin unda, a wave.

    Slavic 8

    • bannik Slavic bathhouses: bathers left him the third firing, along with fir branches, water and soap.
    • domovoy Slavic homes: the guardian of the household; a family moving house formally invites him to come too.
    • kikimora Slavic homes: spins thread at night and minds the chickens when the house is kept in order.
    • leshy Slavic forests: the guardian of the wood, as tall as the trees or as small as a blade of grass.
    • polevik Slavic fields: grass for hair, seen at noon or sunset, and apt to lead wanderers astray.
    • rusalka Slavic rivers: older accounts tie them to fertility, coming ashore in spring to water the fields.
    • vila South Slavic lore: they dance in circles, punish the uninvited and become sworn sisters to heroes.
    • vodyanoy Slavic rivers: a green-bearded old man of the water who breaks dams and mill wheels when angered.

    Persian, Japanese and Korean 9

    • dokkaebi Korea: formed from cast-off household objects such as old brooms; challenges travelers to wrestle.
    • kappa Japanese rivers: carries water in a dish on its head, loves cucumbers and sumo, and will return a deep bow.
    • kitsune Japan: fox spirits that take human form; the more tails, up to nine, the older and stronger the fox.
    • kodama Japan: tree spirits; felling their tree brings a curse, so such trees are often marked with sacred rope.
    • oni Japan: horned and club-carrying; at Setsubun people throw beans to drive them out of the house.
    • peri Persian tales: winged and beautiful, with societies of their own; in the earliest beliefs they were probably evil spirits.
    • tanuki Japan: the shapeshifting raccoon dog, with eight disguises to the fox's seven, said to drum on its belly.
    • tengu Japan: mountain and forest spirits, first drawn with a kite's beak; the long nose came in the 14th century.
    • zashiki-warashi Iwate, Japan: a parlor spirit whose household prospers, and declines if it leaves.

    How this list was compiled: 49 kinds of being from traditional folklore and myth, written to follow the words A kind of. The tool builds one people from six rows (folklore kind, marked feature, homeland, how they live, known for, neighbors say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Each kind's tradition and its one-line note were checked on 2026-09-19 against the kind's English Wikipedia article. The 49 articles: fairy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy; brownie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_(folklore); pixie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixie; leprechaun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun; selkie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie; púca: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%BAca; knocker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker_(folklore); trow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trow_(folklore); hobgoblin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobgoblin; boggart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggart; korrigan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korrigan; elf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf; dwarf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_(folklore); troll: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll; jötunn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6tunn; kobold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold; nisse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisse_(folklore); nixie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_(folklore); huldufólk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulduf%C3%B3lk; centaur: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur; satyr: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyr; faun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faun; nymph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymph; cyclops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclopes; giant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant; ogre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogre; goblin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin; gnome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnome; sylph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylph; undine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undine; duende: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duende; merfolk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid; leshy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leshy; rusalka: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusalka; domovoy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domovoy; vila: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vila_(fairy); vodyanoy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodyanoy; kikimora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikimora; bannik: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bannik; polevik: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polevik; peri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peri; kitsune: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsune; tengu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu; kappa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_(folklore); oni: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni; tanuki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bake-danuki; kodama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodama_(spirit); zashiki-warashi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zashiki-warashi; dokkaebi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokkaebi. Those articles cite the standard folklore references, among them Katharine Briggs (1976) and Thomas Keightley (1828) for the British and Irish kinds, Jacob Grimm for the German ones, the Prose Edda, Hesiod and Homer, and Paracelsus; we confirmed the citations in the articles and did not read the books themselves. Left out on purpose: the orc and the halfling, which come from modern fiction and not from folklore (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfling, checked the same day). Also left out, after a review on 2026-09-19: six beings named in the scriptures of world religions practiced today, the jinn of the Quran and the nāga, yaksha, gandharva, kinnara and apsara of Hindu and Buddhist scripture, because this tool hangs invented customs and rumors on every kind; and the vanara and the rakshasa, which scholars quoted in their own articles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanara and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakshasa) read as portraits of real forest peoples. That rule is narrower than an earlier version of this note made it sound. It does not mean that nothing here is honored today. By the articles listed above, re-read on 2026-09-19: the tengu is counted among the kami of Shinto belief as well as among the yōkai; shrines in Aomori Prefecture honor the kappa as a water deity under the name Suiko-sama; on Aogashima, shrines stand at the foot of great cedars for the kodama; the kitsune is the messenger of the Shinto kami Inari, and whole shrines are dedicated to foxes; the oni became the wardens of the Buddhist hells; and the nisse still gets its Christmas porridge. These kinds stay because each is first a figure of folk tales that its own country has retold freely for centuries, and none is defined by a scripture. That is our judgment, not a fact, and it is why the page asks visitors to borrow them with respect. Any claim an article did not support was left out. No name, term or spelling from a published game, novel or film. No line maps a real-world people onto an invented one, and none leans on a real-world slur or prejudice. The notes are in our own words. Licence: own work

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    Marked feature: all 72 features

    High fantasy 24

    • a gaze that wild animals will not meet
    • a heartbeat slow enough to count the seasons by
    • a scent of crushed fern and cold spring water
    • a second, lower voice under the first
    • a shadow that falls a little longer than it should
    • a voice that carries a mile over open ground
    • breath that frosts even in high summer
    • ears that turn toward the quietest sound
    • eyes like polished amber
    • eyes that change color with the season
    • eyes that hold a faint light after dusk
    • fingertips that glow while they work
    • footprints that fill with dew before dawn
    • hair that chimes faintly when they run
    • hair that lifts when a storm is an hour off
    • hair the color of new copper wire
    • long-fingered hands that never seem to tire
    • pale gold eyes and narrow, slitted pupils
    • palms marked from birth by a spiral line
    • silver-flecked eyes that widen in starlight
    • skin that freckles silver under a full moon
    • skin that holds the day's warmth long after dark
    • veins that show blue-green at the wrist and throat
    • voices that fall into harmony without trying

    Fairy tale 24

    • a hum they cannot stop while they work
    • a laugh like a dropped tray of spoons
    • a scent of apples and woodsmoke
    • a shadow that keeps its hat on indoors
    • a sneeze that rings like a small bell
    • a voice like a creaking garden gate
    • a voice no louder than a kettle, however angry
    • a yawn that sets the whole room yawning
    • cheeks that glow like lanterns when they are pleased
    • ears that droop when they are sad
    • ears that turn pink when they fib
    • eyebrows like two startled caterpillars
    • eyes as round and bright as buttons
    • eyes of two different colors, never the same two
    • footprints where clover comes up by morning
    • freckles that rearrange themselves overnight
    • hair as fine and white as dandelion seed
    • hair that curls tight when rain is coming
    • hair that grows a hand's width every night
    • hair that smells of warm bread
    • knuckles that crack out a tune
    • noses that twitch before good news
    • teeth as small and even as seed pearls
    • thumbs green to the first knuckle

    Grim 24

    • a dry laugh like a snapped twig
    • a pulse too faint to find
    • a scent of cold ash and iron
    • a scent that sets dogs barking
    • a shadow that does not always keep pace
    • a smile that shows too many teeth
    • a stare they hold a moment too long
    • a voice like gravel under a cart wheel
    • a whisper that carries farther than a shout
    • breath that smells of turned earth
    • ears that catch a heartbeat across a room
    • eyes clouded white that still see well enough
    • eyes that never seem to blink
    • eyes that throw back torchlight like a cat's
    • fingers one joint too long
    • gray teeth worn flat with age
    • hair as stiff and dark as wet thatch
    • hair gone white before they are grown
    • hands scarred from a rite nobody explains
    • nails as dark and hard as slate
    • skin cold to the touch in any weather
    • skin that bruises the color of storm cloud
    • tears as dark as ink
    • voices that never rise above a murmur

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page. The tool builds one people from six rows (folklore kind, marked feature, homeland, how they live, known for, neighbors say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a noun phrase that follows the word with. Only eyes, voice, skin, hair, hands, teeth, ears, breath, scent, shadow and footprints, so no line adds a limb, wings, horns or a tail that the folklore kind may not have, and no line states a size. Skin lines use colors and textures no real person has. No name, term or spelling from a published game, novel or film. No line maps a real-world people onto an invented one, and none leans on a real-world slur or prejudice. Three tones of 24 lines each: high fantasy, fairy tale and grim. Licence: own work

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    Homeland: all 72 homelands

    High fantasy 24

    • a canyon with a river that runs silver at night
    • a chain of lake islands joined by rope bridges
    • a coral shore backed by jungle ridges
    • a crater lake with one wooded island at its heart
    • a crescent bay under cliffs of blue slate
    • a drowned city with towers that still clear the tide
    • a forest of giant trees along a slow green river
    • a mountain tarn and the stone halls around it
    • a plateau of hot springs ringed by snow peaks
    • a river gorge bridged by living roots
    • a valley of seven lakes, each a different color
    • the amber-leaved woods beside an inland sea
    • an archipelago of a hundred windblown islets
    • the cedar slopes above a fjord of still water
    • the floating reed-meadows of a vast warm lake
    • the hanging valleys behind a great waterfall
    • the high passes at the head of three rivers
    • the long sea-cliffs and their ruined lighthouses
    • the old canal-country of a fallen empire
    • the orchards of a river oasis in red desert
    • the salt marshes at the mouth of a holy river
    • the star-fall moors and their black peat pools
    • the terraced cliffs above a singing river
    • the white-stone valleys below a glacier

    Fairy tale 24

    • a beaver-dammed creek deep in birch woods
    • a canal lock and the kitchen gardens beside it
    • a duck-pond common ringed with crooked cottages
    • a forest clearing with a pool that never freezes
    • a harbor town of steep steps and leaning houses
    • a hollow hill with a spring at the bottom
    • a lighthouse rock and the tide pools around it
    • a mill pond and the crooked wood behind it
    • a row of stilt houses over a lily pond
    • a snowy valley with a hot spring at its head
    • a village well and the lanes that lead to it
    • an orchard valley with a stream down the middle
    • the back gardens along a town's forgotten stream
    • the banks of a brook nobody has followed to its end
    • the bluebell woods above a chattering stream
    • the chalk hills and a stream that only runs in winter
    • the dunes and rock pools of a windy shore
    • the hedgerows along a lazy brown river
    • the mossy stones around a wishing well
    • the pebble beach under a toffee-colored cliff
    • the reed beds at the edge of a sleepy lake
    • the roots of one enormous oak beside a ford
    • the water meadows below an old stone bridge
    • the willow islands in the middle of a wide river

    Grim 24

    • a battlefield marsh that no one will plow
    • a bog that keeps whatever is dropped in it
    • a drowned forest of bare trunks in still water
    • a flooded quarry and the spoil heaps around it
    • a frozen river and the burial mounds along it
    • a gorge so deep the river below is only a sound
    • a moor of standing stones and sucking pools
    • a plague-emptied port slowly filling with sand
    • a river delta choked with wrecked barges
    • a salt lake shrinking inside cracked flats
    • a storm-beaten headland of hidden coves
    • a swamp of cypress knees and low mist
    • the ash slopes and boiling pools of a live volcano
    • the black pine hills above a tarn with no bottom
    • the cisterns and sewers under an old capital
    • the dry wells and last oasis of a dying land
    • the fens that swallow the road every spring
    • the gray shingle coast beyond the last harbor
    • the iceberg coast at the end of the charts
    • the levees of a river that floods without warning
    • the mine-scarred hills and their rust-red streams
    • the sea caves under a ruined abbey
    • the sinkhole country, all caves and cold springs
    • the tidal flats that vanish twice a day

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page. The tool builds one people from six rows (folklore kind, marked feature, homeland, how they live, known for, neighbors say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a noun phrase that follows They keep to and comes before the words where they. Every homeland holds both water and dry ground, so a seal-skinned or river-dwelling kind fits as well as a mountain one. No real place names, no climate that rules out a custom, and the word where never appears. No name, term or spelling from a published game, novel or film. No line maps a real-world people onto an invented one, and none leans on a real-world slur or prejudice. Three tones of 24 lines each: high fantasy, fairy tale and grim. Licence: own work

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    How they live: all 72 customs

    High fantasy 24

    • bind alliances with an exchange of songs Singing an ally's song badly is a diplomatic incident.
    • bury their dead standing, facing home Graves far from home all point the same way, like a compass.
    • choose their ruler by a contest of riddles A clever outsider could win the throne, and someone has to write the riddles.
    • crown no ruler until the last one's tree has flowered A slow spring means a long regency and a nervous court.
    • elect their judges from among the oldest Verdicts are slow, thorough and full of precedent nobody else remembers.
    • follow a calendar of thirteen named winds Each wind has its own luck, its own chores and its own forbidden acts.
    • foster every child in another household Every family has a stake in every other, which is the point.
    • give every trade its own guild hall and banner The banners march in a fixed order that every guild disputes.
    • hold all land in trust for the unborn Nobody can sell a field, so every quarrel over land is a quarrel over who tends it.
    • keep a council of nine with one seat always empty Everyone has a theory about who the ninth seat is kept for.
    • keep a standing guard of sworn volunteers Nobody is made to serve, and nobody who serves may leave in the middle of a watch.
    • keep a written record of every promise made The record hall is the most heavily guarded building they own.
    • keep two names, one for kin and one for strangers Learning someone's kin name is a gift, a promotion or a threat.
    • let the youngest adult speak first in council It stops the young from simply echoing the old.
    • mark each birth by planting a tree You can read a family's fortunes in its row of trees.
    • measure wealth in the stories a person can tell A traveler with news from far away arrives rich.
    • send every youth away for a year and a day Some come back changed, some come back married, and some do not come back.
    • settle feuds by single combat to first blood Champions for hire do well here, and so do surgeons.
    • sing their laws aloud at each new moon A law nobody can fit to a tune does not get passed.
    • swear every oath on a named ancestor's sword A family with no famous ancestor has nothing to swear on, so they borrow one at a price.
    • take a new name at each great turn of life An old friend may ask for you by a name you gave up years ago.
    • trace descent through the mother's line Titles, houses and feuds all pass from mother to daughter.
    • vote with colored stones cast into a bowl Stones can be counted, weighed, swapped and stolen.
    • wear their family history woven into a sash A blank stretch of sash means a story the family will not tell.

    Fairy tale 24

    • appoint one official grumbler to air complaints The post is unpaid, hotly contested and held for life.
    • choose the mayor by who bakes the best loaf Election week smells wonderful and ends in accusations about yeast.
    • decide everything over a very long breakfast Nothing is settled before the second pot of tea, and nothing after noon.
    • give each child a second, secret birthday Only the family knows the date, and guessing it is very rude.
    • greet every stranger with soup before questions By the time the bowl is empty they have decided what to ask.
    • hold a feast whenever anyone finds a lost thing In a dull month, some things get lost on purpose.
    • hold court once a year under the oldest tree Grievances are saved up all year, so the day runs long.
    • inherit a recipe instead of a surname You are introduced by your dish, and a lost recipe ends a family line.
    • keep a village goose that outranks the mayor The goose has never been wrong, because it has never said anything.
    • keep no locks and mind each other's doors Theft is rare. Privacy is rarer.
    • leave a spare chair at every table for a guest Sitting in it without being asked is how you start a feud.
    • let grandmothers have the last word on everything Two grandmothers who disagree can stall a village for a year.
    • move house every spring, all on the same day For one day a year nobody knows where anybody lives.
    • name each child after the weather on its first day There are a great many people called Drizzle.
    • never start a journey on an empty stomach Expeditions leave late, well fed and in a good mood.
    • pay their debts in buttons and favors A rare button is worth a week's work. A favor is worth whatever is asked.
    • settle arguments with a three-legged race The two who quarreled are tied together and must beat everyone else.
    • share one enormous cooking pot per street Whoever stirs that day decides what the whole street eats.
    • sing their shopping lists so nothing is forgotten Market day sounds like a choir with no conductor.
    • sleep through the coldest month and wake hungry Visitors in that month find every door shut and every chimney cold.
    • swap hats to seal a bargain You can tell who made a bad deal by the hat that does not fit.
    • tell the bees every piece of family news Bees that hear it second-hand are said to sulk for a season.
    • trade in riddles when coin runs short A good riddle buys supper. A stolen one gets you thrown out.
    • wear their best clothes on the worst days A street full of finery means something has gone wrong.

    Grim 24

    • answer to a judge who wears a mask in court Nobody is meant to know who the judge is, the judge's family included.
    • bar their doors from dusk until full light A knock after dark goes unanswered, whoever is knocking.
    • burn a dead leader's hall and build anew No leader inherits a seat, a roof or a loyal staff.
    • cast out anyone who breaks a sworn word Exiles from here are easy to hire and hard to trust.
    • choose their leader by lot, and never twice Nobody wants the job, which they consider the best qualification.
    • forbid mirrors and whistling after dark Ask why and you get a different answer from every elder.
    • give each newborn a knife and a burial plot Both are kept for life. Selling either is unthinkable.
    • hold their councils in total darkness No one can see who spoke, so no one can be punished for it.
    • keep a book of grudges read aloud each winter A name is struck out only when the debt is paid in front of witnesses.
    • keep a guest from every allied house at court Guest is the polite word. Everyone understands the arrangement.
    • let no one eat until the sentries have eaten A cold supper means the watch came in late, and everyone knows why.
    • make oath-breakers eat alone for a year In a place where every meal is shared, it is worse than it sounds.
    • never travel in groups smaller than three One to go on, one to go back, and one to stay with whoever is hurt.
    • owe a year's labor for every life they take The labor is owed to the dead one's family, under that family's roof.
    • pay a blood-price rather than keep a prison Every injury has a fixed price, and the poor pay in years of work.
    • post a watch every night of the year They have never said what the watch is for, and it has never been skipped.
    • ration salt, iron and lamp oil by household Hoarding any of the three is the one crime they never forgive.
    • send their elders to keep the border beacons The old go willingly. It is an honor, and the beacons must never go out.
    • settle inheritance by ordeal, not by birth The ordeal differs by family, and the old ones are not written down.
    • speak of their dead only in the present tense Outsiders can never tell who at the table is alive.
    • take a vow of silence through the mourning month Business carries on in gestures, and old quarrels get a rest.
    • teach every child to swim, climb and hide The lessons start early and the reason is never discussed.
    • tithe a tenth of every harvest to the wall fund The wall has been under repair for longer than anyone has been alive.
    • trust no law that is not carved in stone There are few laws, all short, and the stonecutters are powerful.

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page. The tool builds one people from six rows (folklore kind, marked feature, homeland, how they live, known for, neighbors say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a plural verb phrase in the present tense that follows where they. Each line is one custom of rule, law, family, trade or mourning. No line names a landscape or a body part, so it cannot contradict the homeland or the feature. The d line is a hook for the table: what the custom causes. No name, term or spelling from a published game, novel or film. No line maps a real-world people onto an invented one, and none leans on a real-world slur or prejudice. Three tones of 24 lines each: high fantasy, fairy tale and grim. Licence: own work

    ,

    Known for: all 72 reputations

    High fantasy 24

    • a blue dye no one else can make
    • a choir that armies have stopped to hear
    • a fortress that has never fallen
    • a library copied out fresh every generation
    • a wine that tastes of the year it was made
    • archers who can thread a ring at a hundred paces
    • armor as light as a winter coat
    • bells that can be heard a day's walk away
    • blades that hold an edge for a lifetime
    • bridges that have never once needed repair
    • cloth light enough to pull through a ring
    • glasswork so fine it rings in the wind
    • guides who have never lost a traveler
    • healers who take no payment
    • judges whose rulings other nations borrow
    • keeping the oldest unbroken calendar in the world
    • lanterns that burn without oil
    • locks no thief has ever opened
    • maps that redraw themselves as borders move
    • memory-keepers who can recite a thousand years
    • messengers who have never lost a letter
    • never breaking a treaty, however old
    • poetry that other peoples learn by heart
    • star charts accurate to the hour

    Fairy tale 24

    • a town clock that has been wrong for 300 years
    • candles that smell of the buyer's happiest day
    • cheese strong enough to clear a room
    • festivals that run three days past the plan
    • finding lost buttons, keys and cats
    • gardens that bloom a month before anyone else's
    • giving directions that are scenic rather than short
    • gossip that travels faster than horses
    • hats of astonishing height
    • honey that never sets and never spoils
    • jam that wins every fair for fifty miles
    • kites that stay up for a week
    • knowing tomorrow's weather by the taste of the air
    • lullabies that work on anyone, bears included
    • making boots that never wear out
    • mending anything left on the doorstep overnight
    • never once arriving on time
    • pies with something different in every slice
    • quilts with a story stitched into every square
    • remembering every birthday in six villages
    • soup that cures homesickness
    • toys that seem to move when nobody is looking
    • whistling so sweet that birds join in
    • winning every argument by outlasting it

    Grim 24

    • a bitter tea that keeps sentries awake till dawn
    • a black bread that keeps for ten years
    • burying other peoples' dead when no one else will
    • coffins no grave robber has ever opened
    • debts recorded in knots no outsider can read
    • guards who cannot be bribed
    • iron nails that never rust
    • keeping secrets past the grave
    • knowing which plants kill and which only seem to
    • lamps that burn underwater
    • lockpicks, false bottoms and hidden doors
    • mercenaries who have never broken a contract
    • mourning songs that can silence a market
    • never leaving a debt unpaid or a slight unanswered
    • outliving every empire that taxed them
    • poisons and their cures, sold only as a pair
    • ropes that do not rot or fray
    • salvage taken from places others fear to go
    • smoked fish that travelers cross borders for
    • spies who go unnoticed until they wish otherwise
    • surviving sieges that starved out everyone else
    • tracking a quarry for weeks without rest
    • walking through winter storms that stop armies
    • walls no army has climbed

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page. The tool builds one people from six rows (folklore kind, marked feature, homeland, how they live, known for, neighbors say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a noun phrase or an -ing phrase that follows They are known for. A craft, a skill, a product or a habit that outsiders would travel for or complain about. Nothing that needs one climate or one landscape; fish is allowed because every homeland has water. No name, term or spelling from a published game, novel or film. No line maps a real-world people onto an invented one, and none leans on a real-world slur or prejudice. Three tones of 24 lines each: high fantasy, fairy tale and grim. Licence: own work

    ,

    Neighbors say: all 72 rumors

    High fantasy 24

    • a promise from them outlasts stone
    • no storm has ever touched their roofs
    • none of them has ever been lost
    • the stars sit differently above their halls
    • their blessing makes a harvest
    • their children are born knowing one song
    • their elders speak with the dead one night a year
    • their songs can calm a river in flood
    • they are waiting for someone and will know them on sight
    • they buried a sleeping army somewhere near
    • they can cross water without a boat
    • they can hear a lie before it is finished
    • they can read a stranger's past in a handshake
    • they forged something once that frightened even them
    • they keep a door that must never be opened
    • they know the true name of every wind
    • they never age while they are at home
    • they once turned down a crown
    • they owe the water a debt that comes due soon
    • they remember the world before the moon
    • they take turns staying awake, so one always is
    • they taught the first smiths and regret it
    • they walk in each other's dreams
    • they were old when the first cities were new

    Fairy tale 24

    • a kettle boils faster when one of them is in the room
    • if one of them sneezes, snow follows within the week
    • it is bad luck to refuse their cake
    • it rains sideways when they hold a wedding
    • their doors are never where you left them
    • their geese understand every word you say
    • their grandmothers can knit a fog
    • their scarecrows walk about after dark
    • they argue with the moon and sometimes win
    • they borrow things and return them polished
    • they can smell a birthday coming
    • they can talk a cat down from any tree
    • they count in a way that always comes out lucky
    • they have never told a story the same way twice
    • they invented the nap
    • they keep a spare moon in case of accidents
    • they keep the rain in jars for later
    • they know a shortcut that takes twice as long
    • they know where every lost sock goes
    • they once lost a whole summer and blame each other
    • they taught the cuckoo its only song
    • they turn invisible when they are embarrassed
    • they will fix your roof if you leave out cream
    • you must never thank them, only pay them

    Grim 24

    • the crows report to them
    • it is wiser to pay them than to owe them
    • lights move on their land when nobody is there
    • no one who wronged them has died in bed
    • nobody has ever seen one of them asleep
    • something beneath their hall has to be fed
    • their dead do not always stay buried
    • their lullabies are warnings, if you listen
    • their truce with whatever lives below is nearly up
    • they buried their last king alive at his own request
    • they can follow a trail three winters cold
    • they guard something they wish they could forget
    • they have a word for a thing nobody else will name
    • they hear everything said within a mile of water
    • they keep a list, and names on it get crossed out
    • they know the hour of every death but their own
    • they let the old road grow over on purpose
    • they never forgive and never forget a face
    • they never sit with their backs to a door
    • they ring a bell at night and will not say for whom
    • they salt their doorsteps for a reason
    • they sold their shadows once and bought them back dear
    • they struck a bargain long ago and the price is coming
    • they will not say what became of the last tax collector

    How this list was compiled: An original list written for this page. The tool builds one people from six rows (folklore kind, marked feature, homeland, how they live, known for, neighbors say) and cannot block a combination, so every line in this row was written to read well beside every line in the other five. Rules for this row: a full clause that follows Their neighbors say. It is gossip, so it may contradict the other rows, and the page says so. No rumor repeats a slander told about real peoples: nothing about stolen children, poisoned wells, greed, dirt or eating people. No name, term or spelling from a published game, novel or film. No line maps a real-world people onto an invented one, and none leans on a real-world slur or prejudice. Three tones of 24 lines each: high fantasy, fairy tale and grim. Licence: own work