This guide is part of a larger series in which I delve into the clan identities of the groups in my homebrew setting. This accomplishes a couple of important things--partially, it allows me to have a number of important families and organizations in my world to refer to; it also gives me the opportunity to think more in detail about the way my cultural groups work; and third, as I saw in the entry for the Daltoners, my setting's other group of humans, it lets me add some variation to the group. Before I created my entry for the Daltoners, I treated them as a uniformly evil and colonial group of people who embrace racism and misogyny, so every time a Daltoner appeared in a campaign, they adhered to this group of unsavory traits. But as I wrote the guide to their clans, I started to recognize that the group is not homogeneous and created a few clans that departed from the evil stereotype I'd had in my head. Think about that--an entire eighth of my homebrew setting was a vague archetype that kept all encounters with them very similar, but writing about their clans allowed me to vary and differentiate them in ways that will enrich my DMing. Similarly, I'm setting out to find out the depths of my other groups of humans, the Faninites, who I've always treated as natural-loving, peaceful folks akin to Vikings, but more calm and gentle. So let's see what groups are the foremost among the Faninites.
Faninites are a humble people. They originate from a snowy, forested island to the far north of Evanoch, and they landed on the continent a long time ago in elven territory. Though people were initially wary of the Faninites, their peaceful nature, disposition towards cooperation, and deference to Evanoch's existing people made them an accepted part of society. Their union with the elves created half-elves, and much of Evanoch's northwestern territory is home to a widespread population of Faninites, and they have also migrated across the continent in sizable numbers, found today almost everywhere. Faninites have tight family units that are based on support and affection; their most common career paths include simple tasks like handcrafts and smithing, and both are well-respected across Evanoch as some of the finest in the land. They have focused on assimilation in their new home, adopting deities and cultural traditions from their neighbors and introducing new ideas about respect for nature and meditation that made them especially friendly with the elves. Respect in Faninite society comes from personal values and dignity--the most respected Faninites are those who serve their family and community with honor. The following are clans from Faninite society who have risen to prominence and are among the most powerful groups in Evanoch at large.
The Procker Family
The Procker family is an unconventionally large family by Faninite standards, with three siblings at its head and a healthy number of children at adult age. Dell Procker, the oldest of the Procker siblings, and his wife, Rita, operate a large smithy in the city of Finiel, a major settlement in the northwest of Evanoch and home to many Faninites. Their three children, Bennett, Elizabeth, and Georgia, have all been trained in the family trade, and all five of them operate the smithy together. Their shop, Procker Metal Goods, offers one of the widest selections of smithed items available anywhere, each specializing in a distinct part of the craft (Dell in weaponry, Rita in armor, Bennett in building materials, Elizabeth in tools, and Georgia in jewelry). Dell's sister, Josephine, and Josephine's husband, Matthias, likewise run a shop together (Fanin's Best Designs), where they and their four children, Trent, Norman, Edna, and Crenshaw, create and sell crafts, particularly hand-spun fabrics, homemade candles, custom dyes and inks, from-scratch paper and parchment, and hand-carved beads and talismans. While Procker Metal Goods has the family creating goods and employees selling them, this branch of the family takes turns operating Fanin's Best Designs as salespeople and creating their wares, and all of the family is versed in all crafts rather than specializing in one. The youngest sibling of the Procker family is Anna, who with her husband, Burke, and their daughter, Melanie, work creating alchemical products according to Faninite tradition. Their remedies and medical products are considered some of the most effective products available and far more reliable than other large quantity sellers. Anna and Burke utilize strictly traditional methods of work, and Melanie has begun introducing other methods to create new lines of products. Though involved in disparate trades, the three Procker siblings--Dell, Josephine, and Anna--are all very close and regularly can be seen meeting in taverns to discuss how the family might help each other out in business.
In a sense, the three Procker siblings are the beginning of the clan proper--their individual work helped create their businesses, and the close family bonds allowed them to leverage any success into the success of the whole family. But in another sense, their parents, Lewis and Mimi Procker were the root of the dynasty. Lewis was a part-time smith and part-time fabric maker; Mimi was a freelance apothecary and part-time craftswoman of several stripes. Lewis and Mimi were not terribly talented at any of their trades, but they did teach their children everything they knew and taught them to stick together. When the children showed promise, Lewis and Mimi sent them to apprentice with local experts to increase their skillsets, especially things they could not teach themselves. Now passed, Lewis and Mimi lived to see their children achieve meaningful success in their hometown of Finiel, and the Prockers always say that their parents made everything possible. Nevertheless, an average person familiar with the Prockers' businesses wouldn't be familiar with Lewis and Mimi--common people hold Dell, Josephine, and Anna up as the architects of their success. But in Faninite society, the Prockers' financial success is not considered the foremost of their achievements; rather, Faninite parents try to emulate the same lessons about familial bonds before they begin stressing economic output.
The Prockers, then, are considered something of an anomaly. Faninite values are often strange to the other groups in Evanoch, and Faninites held to be successful by Faninites rarely impress, say, a dwarf, and vice versa. But the Prockers' diverse talents impress many across the continent, and their financial success--by most accounts, the richest family in Finiel--is an inspiration to many. Faninites, though, cling to the family values the Prockers display as a measure of their real success. The Prockers themselves dislike being public figures and adopt public personas of very warm but quiet people, even by Faninite standards. There is a small population of people in Finiel who see the Prockers differently, alleging that the Prockers are resistant to working with those who are not Faninite or half-elf, that they practice business in a way that hurts other businesspeople, and that the Prockers are not a devout people. These claims have not been corroborated by any trustworthy source, and some say that such rumors are started by competitors; others say that everyone shows loyalties, tries to make money, and practices faith as they see fit. What is certain is that the Prockers have a looming place in Faninite society, and their success has made them more friends than enemies.
The Bellton Clan
While many of the most powerful clans in Evanoch are families (and indeed, family-centric cultures tend to gravitate toward familial clans), the Bellton Clan is a great example of one which aligns itself on other crtieria. Going back generations, the Bellton Clan no longer has a living Bellton family member in it; rather, it's composed of people who have bonded over a trade. The Bellton name is perhaps the most trusted name in water travel and associated industries--those with coin to spend and a desire for the best clamor for Bellton ships. But the Bellton Clan is more than the shipping of goods and passengers. As the clan gathered momentum and members, shipmakers, dockworkers, and sailors of all stripes from medical officers to quartermasters joined up. In Evanoch today, the entire northern coast of the continent is home to over a hundred Bellton Clan members of all walks of life, though the vast majority of Belltons are Faninites, and for a non-Faninite to be inducted to the Belltons exhibits a great level of skill and decency. Belltons are sworn to always aid one another, to raise the profile of the Bellton Clan, to always protect passengers, and to abide by nature and community.
The progenitor of the Bellton Clan, Miriam Bellton, was the captain of a small vessel that transported passengers back and forth between Fanin and Evanoch. Miriam claimed that her forebears had built the original longboats that brought the first Faninites to Evanoch and that she knew Faninite secrets to sailing. Her detractors claimed that she merely updated classical Faninite sailing technique; her supporters said that she was skilled no matter what and was the surest and fastest way between the continents. What's sure is that Bellton earned a name for herself despite what were politely called "eccentricities," and that an investor signed her to pilot a significantly larger ship on the same route. Bellton's original crew for these journeys formed a bond with her, and she mentored as many of the crew as she could. In her winter years, she kept sailing, and her old crew moved onto other opportunities, spreading her methods and her code; Bellton would die at sea at 93, dropping dead on the deck while barking orders. Generations later, few outside the sailing trade know much of Bellton, but they do know her name, which is associated with honest sailors. One current ship, The Split Circle, boasts a crew of entirely Bellton Clan members, and the ship is constantly contracted for the riskiest of business.
Faninites tend to regard Miriam Bellton as a talented if odd leader whose personal ethics have influenced an entire industry; her success in business is less the focus for Faninites than her adherence to a personal code which aligns with Faninite values. Miriam Bellton's biggest advocates today argue that she spread morality and community to a way of life that had long been associated with degeneracy--while many ships are dingy and many crews are cutthroat still, the Belltons have brought the average quality of sailing far above where it was before Miriam Bellton. The contemporary Bellton Clan is regarded more consistently: boarding a ship to discover a Bellton sailor or hearing that a vessel was built by a Bellton shipwright is considered a blessing for travelers. Non-Faninites usually think of Belltons as the premier option in sailing who are unusually polite, as the origin of the Belltons is not common knowledge. The only group in Evanoch who has genuine negativity for the Belltons are rival sailors, especially those who were not allowed access to the Bellton Clan themselves. But this is not to say that all sailors dislike the Belltons--most of them look with envy on the Bellton sailors, not hatred.
The Kauffman Clan
The Kauffmans are another group which is not entirely family-centric--rather, a fair contingent of the group are of the Kauffman family while just over half are inducted into the group. While the Belltons have a code which binds its members, the Kauffmans are far more ideological than that. The clan is based in a commune to the northwest of Finiel; their vast land holdings include three orchards, seven livestock pens, five crops fields, several acres of forest, a system of streams and creeks, and a compound of wooden buildings. Members of the clan do not leave the Kauffman property unless in case of extreme emergency such as medical crisis unable to be solved by the resident healer. Guests are allowed on Kauffman land if invited, and the Kauffmans are known to arm themselves to keep unwanted guests away. The foundation of the Kauffman Clan is a system of beliefs spread by the original patriarch of the clan. The code is rigid and complex with many detailed rules about how to live so as to honor nature. Another key element is religious belief--the Kauffmans have no official deity but demand that all members do practice religious faith (most Kauffmans worship Ehlonna). Several hours a day are devoted to religious worship and prayer, performed individually. Finally, Kauffmans believe in a sentient spirit that connects those who live correctly, and Kauffmans believe that time spent affectionately with other Kauffmans is spiritually edifying. While a decent number of Faninites apply to join the Kauffmans, less than one member a year is admitted.
The founder of the Kauffman Clan, Josias Kauffman, was a spiritual guru in a large settlement of Faninites near the northwestern coast of Evanoch which later became the city of Cintan. Kauffman grew dissatisfied with life in the city, arguing that it was too disconnected with nature. Kauffman convinced his two brothers to pool their money and buy the land where the Kauffmans live today; with his wife and children and his brothers' wives and children, Kauffman began to build the compound that exists now. The early years were very hard, and the Kauffmans grew more insular because of it. Kauffman began developing his belief system in part to bolster his family against the hardships they faced. His inspiration was mostly traditional Faninite beliefs--connection to nature, enrichment through community, faith in something greater. Time isolated from society began to add wrinkles to the dogma, which is where the more idiosyncratic elements of belief come from. But despite the eccentricities and hardships, the compound grew, and the Kauffmans were happy. The few times they needed to visit town, people began to ask questions about the mysterious joyful people. Before long, people began to wonder what made the Kauffmans so happy and about their way of life. Josias Kauffman refused visitors for years until it became clear they needed fresh blood to keep the clan alive, bringing us to the modern clan.
The Kauffmans may not sound like a widely beloved clan, but the details of its past and the granular facts of its beliefs are not exactly the focus of Faninite perception of the clan. What Faninites actually think of the Kauffmans is far more complex. On the one hand, nearly every Faninite knows that what the Kauffmans believe is not what they would like to believe. Few Faninites are so moved by the Kauffmans that life on a commune with a relatively small group of people where they'll never be in charge as a non-blood-Kauffman. But Faninites do look to the Kauffmans as a symbol. When news comes that the Kauffmans have a new interpretation of the world, few Faninites leap to subscribe to it, but they do want to hear what a truly traditional Faninite take would look like. When Faninites hear that the sentient spirit between saints is now more important than ever, they decided to strengthen their relationships. When the Kauffmans say that nature will perish without our love, Faninites make an effort to spend more time in nature. The Kauffmans are something of a guiding star, even if they are not followed to the letter. And moreso than anything, Faninites feel comforted knowing that the Kauffmans are out there. Knowing that devoted, hard-working, devout people are truly committing to what Faninites have always said mattered (even if it's not what they 100% agree with). So while the Kauffmans do not really have a design on impacting Evanoch, the things they do are important to Faninites, and every Faninite knows about the Kauffmans and has a strong opinion about them.
The Blatty Clan
A sort of counterpoint to the Kauffmans are the Blattys, something of rebel Faninites who reside in the forests north of Talon Gorge. Members of the Blatty Clan are separatists from Evanine society who deal only with Faninites. Blattys can be recognized by the distinctive withered tree tattoo that all members take on upon admission. In the Blatty Clan's neck of the woods, small settlements of all separatist Faninites dot the countryside. Unlike most Faninites, the Blatty Clan renounces a connection to nature; further, most Blatty settlements trade heavily on mined resources, something Faninites refuse to do. Most of the industry performed in the far north of Evanoch is performed by the Blattys. Blatty Clan members generally stay in friendly territory but are known to preach their ideas to Faninites on traveling missions. The current head of the Blatty Clan is Trent Blatty, great-grandson of the founder of the clan, though most observers conjecture that Blatty is in a position of leadership because of his lineage, and in reality, the Clan is properly run by Alan Ibbotson, a longtime member of the clan with a way with words. Under current leadership, whether the merits of Blatty or Ibbotson, membership has grown, and public perception of the clan has improved.
The founder of the Blatty Clan was a new Faninite immigrant named Greene Blatty. Blatty arrived only a few years after the arrival of Daltoners and experienced considered prejudice from Evanines who detested the Daltoners. Meanwhile, the Daltoners were doing very well as they gobbled up land, took advantage of Evanoch's natural resources, and did so while maintaining antagonist relationships with non-Daltoners. To Blatty, the lesson was clear; in Fanin, the old ways held, but in Evanoch, new ways were required. Blatty traveled to New Dalton and observed the growing city and its people, combining what he learned with his own newfound cynicism. The result was a loose set of rules that forbade Faninites from depending on tradition lest they be left behind by everyone else. Blatty's presentation of these ideas to elves got a negative reaction, leading Blatty to especially preach separation from the elves. By the time that Blatty had spread his ideas to other Faninites in his late years, his loose rules had created a small community of disillusioned Faninites who depended only on one another. In contemporary times, Trent Blatty and Alan Ibbotson preside over a softer version of Greene Blatty's original vision. Separation is a matter of community and mutual understanding for modern Blattys, not a matter of hatred. Taking from nature instead of giving to it was for Greene Blatty a matter of scorning the old and embracing immoral means; today, Faninites seeking financial opportunity go to the Blattys for methods shunned by Faninite society at large. Today, Blattys harbor no particular dislike for other groups--they merely believe they are best understood by those with likeminded approaches (while Greene Blatty believe non-Faninites were inherently threatening). These changes have occurred gradually over generations, though current leadership has certainly accelerated it.
Perception of the Blatty Clan was once dismal--under Greene Blatty, most Faninites thoughts of his clan as foolish racists who had forsaken what was good and true. Given Trent Blatty and Alan Ibbotson's clan, things are different. Traditionalist Faninites warn their children to never fall for the Blattys' creed, more rebellious Faninites see the Blattys as an interesting and harmless exception to a rule, and the many in between those extremes think of the Blattys as being in a league with the Kauffmans--eccentric weirdos who live in the woods in the middle of nowhere, neither entirely dangerous nor completely benign. What perhaps matters most is that the Blattys are well-known. When young Faninites rebel against their parents, threats of running off to join the Blattys are not uncommon. When the Blattys arrive in a town to spread their ideas, word of their presence spreads through the settlement lightning-fast. Many moderate Daltoners hold the Blattys in high regard as "the ones who figured it out," and societies like the elves, halflings, and gnomes, who have very progressive cultures, tend to see Blattys as a step backward for Faninites, who are usually good and sensible people. Ibbotson has personally seen to speaking with dignitaries of foreign cultures to convince them that the Blatty Clan is more than what is began as; his efforts have been largely successful, and that has mostly convinced a few dozen powerful people that the Blatty Clan is a serious industrial collective with an eye on the future. What the Blattys plan to do with an improved public image remains to be seen.
The McKinley Family
Among Faninites, there are many dynasties in trade--experts have children and raise them to be experts and so on down the line, and after a handful of generations, you have a dynasty. The Prockers and Belltons are chief among these in Faninite society, but the McKinleys are a stranger kind of dynasty: diplomats. For twenty-two generations, the McKinleys have served Evanine Faninites as speakers for Faninite interests, and the current array of McKinleys are literally the entire diplomatic team of Faninites in Evanoch. Grandmother Jasmine McKinley oversees relations in Mishara and Finiel; father Noah McKinley works with leadership in Talon Gorge and Vestry; mother Joyce McKinley works with the heads of Ringsdale and New Dalton; eldest daughter Veronica McKinley oversees Underhar and Torga; and youngest son Saunder McKinley is stationed mainly in Curagon but also travels to Grob when necessary. Between them, every major city in Evanoch has the voice of Faninites in their leaders' ears, and the McKinleys are renowned for their understated but forceful approach. The McKinleys make frequent trips to Faninite settlements and even settlements where Faninite populations are relatively small--there, they speak with Faninites about their interests, needs, and concerns. It is generally held that the McKinley diplomats are more direct voices for their people than any other diplomats in the land, save perhaps for halflings, who have culturally cultivated diplomacy in a way that Faninite culture has not. That in fact accentuates the talent of the McKinleys, as they emerged as dominant forces in their field despite coming from a society that never required a diplomat. A common joke among Faninites is to hear a complaint and tell the person that a McKinley would be by soon to take note of the complaint.
The original McKinley was a village elder by the name of Octavia McKinley who made the first voyage to Evanoch from Fanin. The Faninites who made the journey asked McKinley to perform any negotiations with existing people wherever they landed, and McKinley agreed (she would later admit that she agreed because she believed the land would be unpopulated). She spent the voyage practicing her speaking and suggestion skills with her fellow passengers, always alerting them she would be practicing on them. Upon landing on Evanoch, McKinley managed a first meeting with the elves despite the language barrier, securing a safe place for the Faninites. McKinley obsessively learned elven while they traveled to Mishara to meet an elven diplomat. When she arrived, McKinley spoke with several elven leaders, managing to convince them of the Faninites' desire for peace and cooperation with her easy manner and certain words. The elves assumed that McKinley was an official of a Faninite court and were shocked to learn after weeks of negotiations that she had only just begun practicing diplomacy. She was given training by a few elven diplomats and dignitaries before beginning a partial tour of Evanoch, making a great splash with the halflings, gnomes, and dwarves. McKinley returned home to find the beginnings of Finiel being built and created a diplomatic program for Faninites. When she married, she taught everything she knew to her husband and children, and so on, for hundreds and hundreds of years.
The McKinley Family is something of an exception as far as public perception goes; while most people look to the diplomats and leaders who represent them with distrust and dissatisfaction, the McKinleys are pretty universally beloved by the Faninites they stand for. A great deal of this has to do with the McKinley ethic for speaking directly with people to get a real sense of what the people really want; another large factor in the situation is that Faninites tend to be more easygoing about politics than most others; it's also worth noting that the McKinleys do not simply get a sense of peoples' thoughts, but actually use a complicated recording system to see relative numbers of people and their beliefs without any estimation or guesswork. (This is not to say that the McKinleys would simply argue based on numbers--but it is vital to know who believes what in the diplomat's position.) This has had the unexpected advantage of the McKinleys entering negotiations between different groups as the most prepared and knowledgeable in the discussion, which has allowed the McKinleys to steer certain disagreements over the generations in a way that benefits Faninites at large or in particular. What's more, other diplomats tend to regard the McKinleys with respect and/or envy, often trying to stay on the McKinleys' good sides to tap into their power. And non-Faninites have high regard for the McKinleys, and it is not at all uncommon for someone to tell their own diplomat to "do things more like those McKinleys." This clan is notable, then, for being one of the very few which is more or less universally beloved.
There you have it--a guide to five of the most important groups of people among Faninites. You know, when I did the Daltoner clan guide, I was surprised to see how easy it was to mix up that group, which I'd been making homogenously evil for years. Similarly, the Faninites in-game are usually just peaceful Viking types with a lot of hippie influence. Writing this guide really made me mix things up with them, and I had fun taking Faninite values to extremes and exploring the kinds of things that will add some spice what has been a pretty consistent presentation up to now. I'm realizing at this point that every group is going to end up with a similar diversification, and that's incredibly exciting. When I return to the clan series, we'll be looking at important dwarves--for now, though, I'm wrapping up my latest campaign, Of Gods and Dragons, and you can read from character intro sessions to individual epilogues and a grand finale.
That's all for now. Coming soon: clan guides to the dwarves, orcs, and elves. Until next time, happy gaming!
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