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Please note that some or all of this page is currently in what we are calling “Bullet Draft” format, i.e. it’s not been fully written out but we’ve listed the ideas we’re working with in bullet-list form. We will be fleshing these out further and turning them into proper paragraph prose at some point in the coming year, but we wanted to put the lore out for players to read before the first event, even if it’s not as polished as we’d like it. Any sections here that are in bullet list format are not final and are subject to change, though hopefully only small adjustments will be needed between this and the final version.

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Demographics

• Human: ~52%
• Dwarf: ~3%
• Elf: ~22%
• Spring fae: ~6%
• Summer fae: ~4%
• Autumn fae: ~3%
• Winter fae: ~9%

Lineages

Humans

• Humans make up a bare majority of folk in the Grimmwold, just a bit over one in every two Grimmfolk are Human.
• Humans are viewed as both the “standard” Lineage in the Grimmwold and as being reliable in a way that other Lineages aren’t — the lack of any kind of Lineage-based impulses or tendency makes them (slightly) less likely to do anything that will get them or anyone else killed in the Wold.

Dwarves

• Dwarves make up fewer than one in twenty Grimmfolk.
• The majority of the Dwarves in the Grimmwold descend from immigrants from Iskaldur, and thus most of them are clustered in Kieftlund and northern Schlannezahr and Gluhendel.
• Others have trickled in over the centuries as refugees or fugitives from other nations, taking advantage of the Grimmwold’s tradition of ignoring who someone was before they arrived in the Wold.
• There’s a stereotype that Dwarves get eaten by the Wold more often than any other Lineage, that their tendency towards hyperfocus causes them to make the fatal mistake of ignoring their surroundings.
• This isn’t actually borne out by the evidence, but it does lead many Dwarven Grimmfolk to refuse to leave the Felwards and focus on crafting, construction, or other “safer” professions that don’t require them to leave the safety of their Weald.

Elves

• Elves make up a bit more than one in five Grimmfolk.
• Most Elves in the Grimmwold are Wood Elves, which was the native sublineage within Ferus before the Godswar.
• Snow Elves are also present in large numbers, immigrating from Iskaldur and Rivermark over the centuries and meshing very well with the Grimmfolk’s cultural focus on learning as much as they can about the Wold and its dangers.
• Elves, particularly Wood Elves, are seen as having a natural talent at exploring the Wold and dealing with the forest’s deadly flora and fauna — their natural calm and resistance to emotions give them a cool head in dangerous situations, and thus a band led by an Elf is expected to have a higher survival rate than one led by another Lineage.
• Elves also find a natural home within the Meisters and Verstacken of the Wold, putting their knack at translation to good use in deciphering old lore recovered from distant times and places (or just deciphering the terrible handwriting of other Meisters).

Fae

• Winter Fae are by far the most common in the Grimmwold, making up just shy of one in ten Grimmfolk.
• Spring Fae are next-most-common, making up a bit more than one in twenty.
• Autumn and Summer Fae are least common, each making up less than one in twenty.
• Winter Fae hold a special place in Grimmwold society, as their inclination towards patience, tendency to have prophetic dreams, and knack for divination magics make them a natural fit for the role of Wahrsager.
• Whenever a Winter Fae expresses a desire to learn the ways of divination or leadership, the Grimmfolk around them almost always do what they can to foster that interest.
• Though not every Winter Fae actually becomes a Wahrsager, they are almost always given the opportunity if they wish to pursue it.
• Spring and Summer Fae tend to be lumped together in Grimmfolk stereotypes: inclined towards doing things loudly or hastily, and thus in dire need of learning control and restraint if they ever seek to venture beyond the protections of the Felwards.
• This doesn’t stop those two Lineages from pursuing whatever careers they wish, whether inside or outside of a Weald, but it does mean that any Spring or Summer Fae who spend much time in the Wold outside of a settlement tend to be those who have learned to control their emotions and exercise patience where necessary.
• Autumn Fae hold many more positions of soft power than one might expect, given how few of them there are in the nation.
• Autumn Fae are often found as Gruenvolk, Wodegann, and Medwyrs, using their knack for building connections with those around them to gently guide and assist their community and/or social circle as best they can.