Carithi

"As I walk through the bustling strees of Voradin I feel the world move around me. It amazes me how these men, who live such short lives, can do so much and rest so little.

I feel as if whatever I seek, I could find it somewhere within this city. Perhaps down dark and shady ally within the docks, within a sprawling estate of a nobleman's villa or in the Temple of the Dragonflame itself. This city may have be built by giants and ruled by elves, but the common Carithi man made the Dragonbridge great."

Avyrith Brightmoon, Travels in the Free Cities

The Free Cities of Newtown, Voradin and Arendell are home to the Carithi. Their cities are the most populous in the world and their bustling, metropolitan avenues are full of people of different races trading all manners of goods from around the world.

These olive skinned people are noble, proud and industrious. They breed quickly and tend to have large families, so it is not uncommon for one child to have close to a dozen siblings.

The Legions

Carithi armies are the envy of all of the world, and a legion is an organised and effective self-sufficient miliary unit. It has bristling ranks of pikemen, groups of crossbowmen who fire efficient volleys and squadrons of heavily armoured knights.

While an individual Legionaire may not be able to match a ferocious Northborn clansman, a savage Ishvaki raider or an Elven warrior with 300 years of battlefield expertise, they make up for this shortcoming with innovative tactics and superb discipline.

However the battlefield appears, their is a tool within the armoury of the Carithi Legionnaires that will solve the problem. As well as the combined arms approach of legion, a travelling army will likely bring a vanguard of skirmishers, an array of sophisticated siege weaponary and a ring of spies, skilled in military espionage.

Damn lies and politics

The reason that the Carithi armies have not conquered the entire continent is that they are too busy fighting amongst themselves. The arrival of the Sun Elves and the formation of the Adosian Caliphate was a momentous moment in the history of the Free Cities, as it was the first time they had not been at war with each other since the dawn of time.

The politcal system that forms the government of each of the Free Cities is a bereaucratic nightmare. The Carithi nobility is a mess of noble title. Princes, counts, viscounts, baronets, knights, puissants, landgraves, barons, dukes, earls and marquis all walk proudly along the streets of any given. This leads to many issues and confusions within the system: determining who is in charge, who is the son or daughter of who, whether a child is a legitimate heir, who has married whom, whether a member of the nobility is self styled or a member of a legitimate bloodline. This all requires the work of thousands of experts of heraldry, vexillology and nobility, almost all of whom are susceptible to bribes, blackmail and extortion.

The Free Cities

Most of the Carithi live within three great cities.

Voradin: The Dragonbridge is the center of the Adosian Caliphate. It is ruled by The Grand Duchess Lucile de Remi, but effectively ran by the High Priest of the Temple of the Dragonflame.

Arendell: The city of Arendell is shared between the dwarves of Redholt and the Carithi people.

Newtown: Following a recent, bloody revolution Newtown is now ruled by a Magocracy headed by Archmage Mordo, and is a haven for magics users and worshippers of the Old Gods, acting as a safe zone from the persecution of the Caliphate.

Admist all of this officialdom is no wonder that the nobility squabble amongst each other. The only way to effectively run one of the Free Cities is to ammass a group of noblemen beneath a given leader, who then takes dictatorial control of the city and its law making body, declaring themselves "The Grand Duke" or "The Grand Marquis". This can lead to a knight or baron ruling a city that boasts of possessing a prince and half a dozen dukes.

Travellers on the seas of Eithel

Many Carithi are cursed with a sense of wanderlust. They travel widely, mostly by sea, and see much of the world as they can. Adventurers may often have previously worked within the Voradanian Merchant Navy, travelling to the far ports of Nel Melar, Waterdeep, Scoresaysee or Skerrit.

A well travelled Carithi merchantman will speak half a dozen languages, have friends in every civilised port north of the Great Desert and possess more gold than he knows what to do with.

Land of Heroes

Southern Voradin is a land steeped the stories of mythical adventurers. Many of these heroes were charming rogues who battles with fair greater forces and won the day against all odds. Every child in the Free Cities knows the stories of Persi the Trickster, Archmage Calima de Methes of Newtown, The Pauper Baron and the Mad Count of Ereldar.

Carithi is also famed for its knights, legionnaires and mercenary companies. Sir Randall the Thrice-Died, the resurrected prophet of Ados the Drake, hails from the Forlorn Crag to the north of the Jadebow Barony. Many of the members of the Golden Hand (a shockingly expensive band of mercenaries) and the 9th Legion are now enshrined the legends of the Free Cities. The Exalted Order of the Sacred Rose is made up of the finest Knights Errant on the continent.

Appearance:

Carithi are typically short, slim humans with olive skin and short, dark hair. While there are obviously regional variation on the set of characteristics, they aren't vast. The Free Cities was the birthplace of the common tongue that has spread across Eithel.

Naming Tradition:

The Free Cities has huge variation in the types of names used. Highborn Carithi style themselves with a noble title, a first name and then the name of their family. Lowborn Carithi will have a given name (which is likely less exotic than its highborn equivalent) and then a patronymic. Depending on his social standing, Bart, Son of Matteo may also be known as The Baron Bartolomeo de Mendico.

Male Lowborn Names: Armel, Carlo, Eduardo, Gaspon, Jon, Iago, Kae, Ludo, Matteo, Otto, Raf, Seb, Theo, Will

Female Lowborn Names: Aimie, Baria, Chloe, Elise, Fran, Izz, Luna, Mari, Pedia, Solena, Rute, Val, Yasmin

Male Highborn Names: Amadeu, Dalmiro, Ezra, Florian, Giorano, Javier, Marcel, Octavian, Sebastiano, Theodore

Female Highborn Names: Ambara, Carine, Elodie, Isabella, Kyara, Lucile, Mariangela, Odile, Reine, Valentina

Family Names: De Barrande, De Carre, De Lorio, De Gaume, De Mendeluke, De Remi, De Tomasi, De Vardock

Racial Features:

As a Carithi you gain the following features:

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age: Like normal humans, Carithi reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.

Alignment: Carithi tend toward no particular alignment. The best and the worst are found among them.

Size: Carithi vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless position in that range. your size is Medium.

Metropolitan: Having lived in a bustling, multicultural city for most of your life, you speak Common and two additional languages.

Subrace: Most Carithi would not make excellent adventurers. Their advantages lie not within genetics or magic, but through numbers, skill and experience. The Carithi who do make good adventurers are mostly found within three segments of Carithi culture. Choose a subrace to reflect what makes your character special.

Highborn:

The Free Cities are full to the brim of men and women with some for of noble title. Not all of them are rich, but they all pretend to be.

Ability Score Increase: Your Intelligence and Charisma scores increase by 1.

Well Educated: You gain proficiency in the History skill.

Carithi Finesse Weapons

I have deliberately not worded Master Duelist as Finesse weapons to ignore the interaction between this ability and Rogue's Sneak Attack. If your DM thinks a Rogue sneak attacking for a base D10 damage with a two handed longsword makes sense, please feel free to ignore this choice of wording.

You can double your history bonus when making a check related to the subjects of heraldry, nobility Carithi mythology.

Master Duelist: You are trained in the chosen weapon of Carithi Highborn. You have proficiency in the longsword. Additionally you can use your dexterity score instead of your strength score for attack and damage rolls made with longswords.

Legionairre:

You served in the Carithi Legions. While you may not have been an infantryman, you still have the basic training of a soldier.

Ability Score Increases: Your Dexterity and Constitution scores increase by 1.

Well Drilled: You have proficiency in the Athletics skill.

Legionary Weapon Training: You have proficiency in shields, spears and light crossbows.

Squad Tactics: You have been trained in the art of mass combat and work well with your allies in combat. You have advantage on your first attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 ft.

Seaman:

You served on a ship. Perhaps as a marine, a member of the merchant navy or as a pirate, but however you did it you've seen many sights and been to many places.

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity and Charisma scores increase by 1.

Smooth Talking: You have proficiency in Persuasion.

Naval Weapon Training: You have proficiency in the rapier, scimitar, dagger and light crossbow.

Sea Legs: You have proficiency with water vehicles. Additionally you are used to swimming and climbing the rigging of ships. Your climbing and swimming speeds increase to 30 feet.

Credits

Tom Cardin, whose pretty map I stole at the start of it all

Matt Colville, for insipring me to DM

Natural Crit, with whose website I made this doc.

'kingdoms' by Artcobain, for the art of Newtown

'prince' by cjuk, for the art of the Highborn