Obscure nonhuman races from the Inland Sea region of Khul...

GELF (#15-16/31, #43-44/365) [OOTP IV]

Gelf Giant Gelf 

SKILL: 8 9

STAMINA: 9 11

ATTACKS: 1 2

WEAPON: 

Gelf - Sword

Giant Gelf - Club (as per Greathammer)

ARMOUR: 

Gelf - Large Shield

Giant Gelf - Light 

DAMAGE MODIFIER: 

Gelf - None

Giant Gelf - +1 to the Damage Roll 

HABITAT: 

Gelf - Towns, Plains, Wilderness, Deserts

Giant Gelf - Mountains, Hills, Ice, Forests 

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 

Gelf - 1-6

Giant Gelf - 1-2 

TYPE: Humanoid

REACTION: Neutral

INTELLIGENCE: High

There are many curious types of folk out there in the wide and teeming lands of Titan, and yet another to add to the official scrolls comprising the Census of Sentient Beings is the enigmatic GELF. Thought to be some kind of Elven hybrid, similar to Half-Elves or Blackhearts, several variants of Gelf are known to exist.

The regular GELF is a man-sized muscular humanoid, with pointed ears, sharp teeth, and skin that ranges in colour from orange through yellow to green, with black or brown hair worn long and tied back with a bronze clasp. They wear loinclothes and embroidered waistcoats, and adorn the rest of their bodies with painted symbols, tattoos and scar-patterns, and typically defend themselves with broadswords and large shields. 

Gelfs herd animals such as goats, sheep and Dilks, in the arid borderlands on the edges of the Scythera Desert or the Sea of Fire, or even in the northern wilds of Qor and Kirf. It is a harsh life, and, along with the Gelf's fondness for Orc Ale and Dilk-meat, makes it easy to lure the Gelf to the city in search of fortune, where they are usually employed as guards, stevedores, labourers, or combatants in the game of Punch-Out, as played at the Gambling Pits of Calah.

While it may appear that Gelfs are a hybrid of Goodly Elf and Orc or similar, one does not talk about this in front of a Gelf unless they wish to start a fight. Instead, the Gelfs claim they previously inhabited an ancient empire in these parts that was destroyed in Irritarian times, casting the Gelfs into their current marginal existence. Gelfs believe that in due course a leader will emerge from their ranks and once again drag them back towards the light to found a true kingdom of the Gelfs.

The GIANT GELF has rather different ancestry and appears to be some kind of hybrid between Elf and Giant, in much the same way that the Gark is a crossbreed of Giant and Goblin. They are large gangly humanoids around four to five metres tall, with pointed ears and extravagant facial hair, and wear furs and animal skins as clothes, while arming themselves with a thick wooden club up to two metres long!

Giant Gelfs are known from highland areas, such as the Icefinger and Freezeblood Mountains in Allansia, the Cragrock Peaks and Mauristatia in the Old World, and the Mountains of the Giants in Khul. Here they have a reputation for trickery; blocking passes with avalanches, sending snowballs racing down into the valleys, and so on. Mountain Elves, and, surprisingly, some Dwarfs, disagree, and say that Giant Gelfs are gentle, helpful creatures, and any problems they cause are because people have angered the Giant Gelf by over-hunting game or chopping down too many pine trees.

MALLARK (#17/31, #45/365) [OOTP IV]

SKILL: 9

STAMINA: 7

ATTACKS: 2

WEAPON: Staff or Spear and Small Bite or Greatsword

ARMOUR: Medium

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: Marshes, Rivers, Lakes, Towns

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1-3 or 4-24

TYPE: Bird/Humanoid

REACTION: Neutral

INTELLIGENCE: High

The avian MALLARK is a curious type of sentient humanoid resembling a man-sized water-fowl, though with arms instead of wings. They are capable swimmers, with strong webbed feet and water-proof feathered plumage, arranged in a checkered pattern of brown, white, grey and black. Mallarks have a broad bill, liberally studded with hooked pseudo-teeth known as 'fangles', and will snap at opponents in combat as well as attempting to hit them with whatever weapon the Mallark is holding.

In the wild, this will be a bamboo staff or barbed spear, while if in the service of a human master (typically denoted by having their fangles cut), the weapon will be a greatsword. Mallarks are strong, fast, agile fighters, and often sought out by wealthy merchants in large cities such as Calah and Shurrupak, as they make for demurely-behaved but fanatically loyal bodyguards. All Mallark warriors also wear lacquered reed armour, but they disdain the use of shields as cowardly. 

In the lands surrounding the Inland Sea region of Khul, Mallark villages are found among wetlands, such as the Kishian Delta, or along the banks of rivers like the Parine. Each village is a series of floating rafts bearing dome-shaped mud and reed huts. There will be four to twenty-four Mallarks in a village, of which 2-7 will have scores as above, while the rest will be Mallark villagers with SKILL 7 STAMINA 6, 2 Attacks, Small Bite and Dagger. Here they live simple lives, catching fish, collecting water plants, and defending themselves against the depredations of swamp creatures such as Gigantic Leeches, Crocodiles, or worse.