Vaiel Wayfarers
Structure
The Vaiel Wayfarers are a nomadic culture of close-knit extended families that wander the wilderness, following a meandering trail which they call gaethalan, "the path of the wind". There are three distinct tribes of Vaiel that wander the lands of Kordania, Guedovania and Drovedna, each following their own path of the wind, each of which forms a winding circuit that takes roughly a year to complete.
The Andrithyn Vaiel, which roughly translates to "intrepid" or "dauntless" in common, follow their gaethalan across the lands of Kordania. The Cylliad Vaiel wander the deep forests and golden fields of Guedovania, while the Aduniath have followed their gaethalan back to the blasted plains and wind-swept hills of their ancestral home of Drovedna. The Vaiel are a predominantly halfing and gnomish people, though within their caravan trains can be found members of any race, descended from individuals who voluntarily joined the Vaiel and their way of life for one reason or another. No one individual leads the caravans. Instead, when an important decision needs to be made, a communal meeting is held around a large campfire and every member may voice their opinions or concerns. Of course, within every caravan there are elderly, wise and trusted individuals whose advice is highly regarded. Each of the extended families has a nominal head, a member who's word is respected and followed by the others, and the one who most often speaks for them during formal gatherings.
The Andrithyn Vaiel, which roughly translates to "intrepid" or "dauntless" in common, follow their gaethalan across the lands of Kordania. The Cylliad Vaiel wander the deep forests and golden fields of Guedovania, while the Aduniath have followed their gaethalan back to the blasted plains and wind-swept hills of their ancestral home of Drovedna. The Vaiel are a predominantly halfing and gnomish people, though within their caravan trains can be found members of any race, descended from individuals who voluntarily joined the Vaiel and their way of life for one reason or another. No one individual leads the caravans. Instead, when an important decision needs to be made, a communal meeting is held around a large campfire and every member may voice their opinions or concerns. Of course, within every caravan there are elderly, wise and trusted individuals whose advice is highly regarded. Each of the extended families has a nominal head, a member who's word is respected and followed by the others, and the one who most often speaks for them during formal gatherings.
Culture
The Vaiel are the inheritors of the druidic rituals and practices of Nezvied, and all halfling and gnomish families within the caravans can trace their ancestry back to the ancient enclaves that once resided in the forests and rolling plains of Drovedna. Every family of a Vaiel caravan possesses some piece of lore or knowledge from a bygone age which they pass down from parent to child to ensure they are kept alive. So esoteric are these practices that even to modern day Drovednian society they seem amazing and otherworldly. Some know the secret ways to communicate with fey spirits, while others know how to manipulate the energy within their own bodies. Others still are gifted diviners and fortune tellers, and some are able to manipulate the world through song and music.
The Vaiel are not merely wandering nomads. The circular trails that each Vaiel caravan follows all come into contact with settled civilisations at one point or another. The sight of the wayfarer wainmanses approaching a town or village is often a cause of excitement for the townsfolk, who have come to anticipate their arrival each year with eager enthusiasm.
Once the Vaiel make camp on the outskirts of a settlement, they erect a large fete in a nearby field with stalls and stages. The Vaiel use this opportunity to perform music, dances and acrobatics for the eager crowd that gathers, and they use such opportunities to gather information on current events, potential warnings of the road ahead, and to also bring news from lands far afield. The Vaiel caravans also act as wandering markets for the villages and towns, many of whom are remote and far-removed from the wealth and goods of the larger cities. Wares that the Vaiel have collected over their wanderings are traded for food, tools and other items that the Vaiel would otherwise struggle to manufacture for themselves.
Once every dozen years or so, the gaethalan of two Vaiel caravans meets, always in the same spot. These places are regarded as sacred to the Vaiel, natural convergence points of lay magic and the meetings of two caravans is viewed as a mixture of religious ceremony, cosmic serendipity and family reunion. Even rarer, the gaethalan of all three of the Vaiel caravans meet at a site known as the Arbor, or the Wheel's Eye. When this happens, the elders of the three caravans ascend a set of ancient steps in the nearby mountainside. No other Vaiel are permitted to follow, and what occurs there is a mystery the elders do not share.
Once the Vaiel make camp on the outskirts of a settlement, they erect a large fete in a nearby field with stalls and stages. The Vaiel use this opportunity to perform music, dances and acrobatics for the eager crowd that gathers, and they use such opportunities to gather information on current events, potential warnings of the road ahead, and to also bring news from lands far afield. The Vaiel caravans also act as wandering markets for the villages and towns, many of whom are remote and far-removed from the wealth and goods of the larger cities. Wares that the Vaiel have collected over their wanderings are traded for food, tools and other items that the Vaiel would otherwise struggle to manufacture for themselves.
Once every dozen years or so, the gaethalan of two Vaiel caravans meets, always in the same spot. These places are regarded as sacred to the Vaiel, natural convergence points of lay magic and the meetings of two caravans is viewed as a mixture of religious ceremony, cosmic serendipity and family reunion. Even rarer, the gaethalan of all three of the Vaiel caravans meet at a site known as the Arbor, or the Wheel's Eye. When this happens, the elders of the three caravans ascend a set of ancient steps in the nearby mountainside. No other Vaiel are permitted to follow, and what occurs there is a mystery the elders do not share.
Assets
The Vaiel are by no means a wealthy society, subsisting purely on either bartering with the towns and hamlets they visit, or on hunter-gathering when their gaethalan leads them into the remote wilderness.
However, the single, most vital tool that the every Vaiel caravan possesses are their wagons, which they call wainmanses. These vehicles are as similar to a regular wagon as a palace is to a hovel. Every wainmanse is a mobile work of art. The wooden panels and beams of its integral structure are carved with swirling patterns and latices, images of animals and birds, mountains and forests. The canvases and tarps used to shield them from the elements are embroidered with stories from the innumerable folk tales the Vaiel have collected over their centuries of wandering.
Inside, a wainmanse can comfortably shelter a dozen people, their tall, arching walls fitted with a series of shelves where a grown human can comfortably lay down to rest. Cunningly designed storage compartments and cupboards allow each wainmanse to carry and store all manner of pots and pans, tools, blankets and food stores; everything a Vaiel family needs for a life eternally on the move.
The most astonishing and marvelous aspect of a Vaiel wainmanse is known only to the Vaiel themselves however. Whenever a wainmanse is built or repaired, its construction is overseen by an amrahni, a wood-singer. The amrahni is the keeper of ancient druidic rituals from Nezvied and as a wainmanse is built, the amrahni weaves magic into its construct, magic of enchantment and illusion.
When the Vaiel prepare to make camp, they arrange their wainmanses in a loose circle and connect them with large canopies of canvas and wickerwork. Once the circuit is complete, branches and vegetation miraculously sprouts and grows from the eaves and awnings of the wainmanses. In a matter of minutes, the entire Vaiel encampment is surrounded and hidden by this magical undergrowth, shielding them from prying eyes. Not only that, but a magical mist begins to emanate from wagons, descending like a fog bank around the camp. On the inside of the ring of wainmanses, the mist is barely noticeable, but on the exterior one can see barely past ones own nose. The mist is also laced with enchantment and misdirection, causing creatures who might accidentally blunder into the camp to stumble obliviously and harmlessly in the wrong direction.
Of all the the Vaiel possessions, the wainmanses are the key to their continued survival as a community and every member is raised to respect them and how to maintain them. To the Vaiel, a single wainmanse is worth a kings ransom.
However, the single, most vital tool that the every Vaiel caravan possesses are their wagons, which they call wainmanses. These vehicles are as similar to a regular wagon as a palace is to a hovel. Every wainmanse is a mobile work of art. The wooden panels and beams of its integral structure are carved with swirling patterns and latices, images of animals and birds, mountains and forests. The canvases and tarps used to shield them from the elements are embroidered with stories from the innumerable folk tales the Vaiel have collected over their centuries of wandering.
Inside, a wainmanse can comfortably shelter a dozen people, their tall, arching walls fitted with a series of shelves where a grown human can comfortably lay down to rest. Cunningly designed storage compartments and cupboards allow each wainmanse to carry and store all manner of pots and pans, tools, blankets and food stores; everything a Vaiel family needs for a life eternally on the move.
The most astonishing and marvelous aspect of a Vaiel wainmanse is known only to the Vaiel themselves however. Whenever a wainmanse is built or repaired, its construction is overseen by an amrahni, a wood-singer. The amrahni is the keeper of ancient druidic rituals from Nezvied and as a wainmanse is built, the amrahni weaves magic into its construct, magic of enchantment and illusion.
When the Vaiel prepare to make camp, they arrange their wainmanses in a loose circle and connect them with large canopies of canvas and wickerwork. Once the circuit is complete, branches and vegetation miraculously sprouts and grows from the eaves and awnings of the wainmanses. In a matter of minutes, the entire Vaiel encampment is surrounded and hidden by this magical undergrowth, shielding them from prying eyes. Not only that, but a magical mist begins to emanate from wagons, descending like a fog bank around the camp. On the inside of the ring of wainmanses, the mist is barely noticeable, but on the exterior one can see barely past ones own nose. The mist is also laced with enchantment and misdirection, causing creatures who might accidentally blunder into the camp to stumble obliviously and harmlessly in the wrong direction.
Of all the the Vaiel possessions, the wainmanses are the key to their continued survival as a community and every member is raised to respect them and how to maintain them. To the Vaiel, a single wainmanse is worth a kings ransom.
History
The Vaiel can trace their roots to the ancient enclaves of halflings and gnomes of Nezvied in Drovedna, who lived in secluded settlements and lived a life closely intertwined with the natural world. They were practitioners of strange magics derived from the power of nature, the energy of the body, and even more esoteric sources. They were a part of the Nezviedan empire, held in a sort of spiritual reverence by the more settled peoples of that great society which revered nature and martial strength.
Yet for all the respect that the Nezviedan leadership had for the Vaiel, they failed to heed the warnings of their most gifted seers; dire omens of a coming conflict and of utter destruction. The martial pride of Nezvied would not see them cower from a fight if one was approaching. And so, leaving Nezvied to its fate, the elders of the Vaiel led their people on an exodus of their ancestral home, abandoning Drovedna and heading west and north, following signs and omens divined by the seers.
This meandering and mysterious path they followed would eventually diverge, leading the Vaiel to become three distinct groups, though the seers of each group swore to their people that they would see each other again. The Vaiel had found a new calling in life. From that time on, they have lived a life interwoven with the natural magic of the world, following a path that they only vaguely understand and yet has never led them astray. The close bonds of community have held the Vaiel together for centuries and kept the wisdom of their ancestors alive for generations.
Yet for all the respect that the Nezviedan leadership had for the Vaiel, they failed to heed the warnings of their most gifted seers; dire omens of a coming conflict and of utter destruction. The martial pride of Nezvied would not see them cower from a fight if one was approaching. And so, leaving Nezvied to its fate, the elders of the Vaiel led their people on an exodus of their ancestral home, abandoning Drovedna and heading west and north, following signs and omens divined by the seers.
This meandering and mysterious path they followed would eventually diverge, leading the Vaiel to become three distinct groups, though the seers of each group swore to their people that they would see each other again. The Vaiel had found a new calling in life. From that time on, they have lived a life interwoven with the natural magic of the world, following a path that they only vaguely understand and yet has never led them astray. The close bonds of community have held the Vaiel together for centuries and kept the wisdom of their ancestors alive for generations.
Gaethalan, "Way of the Wind"
Symbol
Three interlinked circles joined by a swirling triskelion
Founding Date
-162
Type
Geopolitical, Nomadic tribe
Demonym
Vaielish
- Barbarian - Path of the Totem Warrior, Path of Wild Magic
- Bard - College of Creation, College of Glamour, College of Lore
- Cleric - Life Domain, Light Domain, Nature Domain, Twilight Domain
- Druid - Circle of Dreams, Circle of Stars, Circle of the Land, Circle of the Moon Circle of the Shepherd
- Monk - any subclass
- Paladin - Oath of the Ancients
- Ranger - any subclass
- Rogue - Scout, Thief
- Sorcerer - any subclass
- Warlock - The Archfey, the Celestial, the Genie, the Great Old One, the Hexblade, the Undying
- Wizard - any subclass
Esra Klawer
Neutral good, male halfling
A talented practitioner of divination magic, Esra Klawer and his family have passed down their knowledge of dream-reading and truth-saying to his great nephew Esibi.
Torsten Galwyr
Chaotic good, male half-elf
A fervent worshipper of Pyrmora, Torsten grew up in with the Andrithyn Vaiel with his half-elven mother and human father.
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