Gadding about like a GADDON!

GADDON (#22/28, #22/365) [POT]

Warrior Knight 

SKILL: 7 9

STAMINA: 8 10 

ATTACKS: 1 

WEAPON: Sword, Spear or Long Bow 

ARMOUR: Plate Armour

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None 

HABITAT: Caves, Dungeons

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1-6 or 6-36 

TYPE: Humanoid 

REACTION: Friendly-Neutral 

INTELLIGENCE: High

The Gaddon or Feelbrethren people are originally from south-west Khul. They migrated to the deep chasms (for no known reason, although some authorities claim religious persecution) and created their own culture. They began to give birth to blind babies soon after constructing their complex system of tunnels. Their other senses were greatly enhanced and they became masters of the dark. The Gaddon Knights – the Sensewarriors – are supreme fighters in the dark. They are rarely to be seen in the Toplands (as they call Khul) since the time of Tancred the Magnificent.

From Treatise on the Kingdoms of South-west Khul by Ignatius Pommfritte.

One race of humans has gone further than most in adapting to an inhospitable corner of Khul and making it their own. The GADDON people of south-western Khul have left the lands above and gone underground, where they can be found dwelling in the subterranean Dark Chasms that tunnel beneath the Kingdom of Gorak. Here they have evolved numerous adaptations to the cave systems they now call home. Despite their blank sightless eyes, the Gaddon have excellent and powerful senses of hearing, smell, touch and taste. Their skin is pale, with slightly pointed ears and long dark hair, which is usually styled into mane- like mohawks, beards and moustaches for the men.

All Gaddon are trained in the skill of Sensefight, which is the ability to fight blind, or in complete darkness, with no combat penalties. This skill is sometimes taught to worthy heroes from the Toplands, and to learn it requires the use of a Dark Helm and the spell of Darksight. For battle, Gaddon warriors arm themselves with swords, spears and long bows, and wear plate armour, though those on missions to the Toplands may wear more typical mercenary garb. They also ride the horned Koyunlu into battle and harness them to carts and war-machines. Gaddon will usually be encountered in patrols of one to six warriors, and if five or six are present then one will be a Gaddon Knight who leads them, with combats scores as given above.

Normal Gaddon are SKILL 6 STAMINA 6 and armed with a dagger but no armour. They wear leather clothes made from the hides of Koyunlu and other underground beasts. These Feelbrethren can be found dwelling in small fortified cavern settlements of six to thirty-six inhabitants, of which around half will be male and female warriors. There are also great subterranean fortress-cities such as Caverndown and Govanthian, which house thousands of Gaddon in winding tunnels, fortified keeps and chambers cut from bare rock. These guard the fabled iron mines from which the Gaddon extract ore to forge their weapons, tools and armour. Smaller settlements exist; the infamous below-ground tavern known as the Dragon’s Breath Inn (which serves Scorchspark Brew), is run by Bosak the Gaddon and his daughter, while the Tower of Orghuz used to be a Feelbrethren stronghold until they abandoned it to fell creatures but not before trapping every single room.

The Gaddon have developed a unique writing system, known as Cyphers, which are a series of raised dots and sunken pits arrayed on a three-by-three grid. Different combinations of dots and pits signify different things, and even encompass a Spellbound number-counting system used by Gaddon sages and artificers. The Secret Cyphers of the Feelbrethren are only taught to the most trusted of Toplanders, by scholars such as the ancient Gaddon hermit known as the Old Man in the Iron Cave. These mystics also craft magic items such as Gaddon Rings (one use only: makes bearer invisible in combat and can win one battle without STAMINA loss) and Crystals of Darkness (bring darkness upon a torch-lit cavern to allow for a mass-escape but may require the sacrifice of zero to two warriors).

The term Sensewarrior encompasses all Gaddon fighters, whether rank-and-file warriors or the more elite Gaddon Knights. These knights are led in turn by mighty heroes known as Gaddon Battlemasters, and many are their tales of valour and bravery. The Sensewarriors were originally entrusted to guard the Malice-infected Orghuz and his Khuddam spawn for all eternity, when Kevin Knucklesap was the legendary Gaddon hero who fought alongside Tancred the Magnificent, the first king of Gorak, against the forces of his evil-tainted brother Orghuz.

The greatest Battlemaster is Alkis Fearslicer, originally of Govanthian who is sometimes found on missions in the Toplands, and leader of thirty Gaddon knights. His deputies are a black-bearded man called Saliac and the warrior-woman Chorista. Two such Battlemasters hail from Caverndown, the hero Gorodin and the lady Khazara, one of the greatest of the Sensewarriors. Also worth mentioning is Aspra Smoothcheek, a Toplander mercenary-girl raised by the Gaddon who now roams the caverns with a rogue band of Dwarfs.