Deerfolk
The deerfolk make up the commonfolk of the steel legion, forming most of the servant and menial labor roles beneath their minotaur masters. Deerfolk are often seen as second class citizens within their own nation despite the fact their minotaur masters would not survive without them. Deerfolk are adept farmers, sailors, artisans, and the creators of the life weaving magic path. Though accomplished and treated poorly by their bovid masters, deerfolk are loathe to leave their island nation as it is the only place one is safe from wild predators, as the minotaurs have slain them all and ensured the safety of their small island nation.
Whereas kobolds are humble but united and thus difficult for any one group to mistreat, deerfolk are far less unified and hold a culture similar to minotaurs. Animosity between villages, families, and clans are common and can extend multiple decades or even generations. Legion culture can be described as direct and brutish at the best of times but among the deerfolk direct confrontation is rare. Deerfolk are disallowed from carrying weapons of any form and are restricted from having names, their official title being whatever craft or job they happen to have, though most deerfolk keep a private name amongst themselves and only use their public jobname among their minotaur masters. The ban on weaponry makes many deerfolk poor fighters who rarely leave their island despite the relative freedom they could obtain by doing so. Among those who are capable of combat train in secret, often as ninja who are employed as assassins, spies, or protectors that use improvised weapons disguised as or outright farming tools modified for a killing edge.
Deerfolk are the originators of the magical process known as weaving, a mixture of healing and transfiguring magic that was originally used for restoring the body of wounded or dying soldiers. This practice later evolved into cosmetic transformations, allowing most races to change minor attributes such as eye color, bone shape, height, or fur/hair color. The later discovery that humans could be weaved far more extensively than others created a thriving and bolstered industry for the legion as a whole. The exact process and creation of weaving is not quite understood by anyone, much to the vexation of minotaurs, whom the deerfolk could neither be persuaded nor forced into revealing their secrets. While some independent weavers ply their trades outside of legion territory, in particular in Far Water, only the most exceptional of magi can learn and use the complicated process.
A quick-start guide:
- Nodo deerfolk, representing the general commoners gain +10 vigilance, +5 mechanical/biology/cognition, and -5 robustness/toughness.
- Yayoi, representing the coastal deerfolk gain +10 vigilance/spirit, +5 mechanical, and -5 cognition/vitality.
- Yuki deerfolk, considered to be yokai, gain +15 cognition, +10 vigilance, and -10 spirit.
- All deerfolk subraces have a bounding gait, allowing them to ignore terrain slowdown and potential tripping due to difficult terrain. Nodo and Yayoi deerfolk gain inspiration for cleaning up messes, while Yuki increases the magical regeneration of anyone bearing a rune lantern by merely standing near them, similar to ogres.
Biology
Deerfolk are exactly as one would expect, humanoid deer. Deerfolk have hooves, cervine tails, and may have antlers or horns depending on gender and ethnicity. As a general rule, female deerfolk do not have antlers or horns unless they are a yuki. Male nodo will exclusively have antlers while yuki will have singular, pointed horns that face directly upwards. Physically speaking, this is the only readily noticed distinction between a nodo and yayoi while the yuki are readily set apart by having a more 'reindeer' appearance of cervines bordering colder regions. Deerfolk will not shed their horns yearly as normal cervines do unless they are lost entirely, though some antlers may being growing again if only partially damaged. While the nodo and yayoi are quite similar, both having earthy colored fur of brown, white, tan, wheat, straw, or auburn colors, the yuki will stand apart by being born with snow white fur that changes during puberty, darkening to black, mahogany, or chocolate colors save for white spots left on the hips and shoulders. Unlike the nodo and yayoi, who are separated primarily by having horns or antlers, yuki can have either.
Culture
Deerfolk culture is largely the other half of legion culture, where as minotaurs are forward, blunt, and often times direct, the status of deerfolk being essentially a second class of people leads them to be largely reserved. Though in the distant past, deerfolk were equal to minotaurs and could reach the same ranks of nobility and societal positions, this changed after the unification of the Steel Legion as a polity and culminated with the rebellion of Kenji the Mountain and his three hundred ronin nearly four centuries prior to the present day. Kenji, who has now become a mythical hero among the deerfolk, was the only deerfolk samurai to successfully rebel when the then shogun began to disarm and crackdown on deerfolk collectively. His rebellion ended with the death of the shoguns son, killed in battle by Kenji, who was then granted the honor of a samurais death, along with that of his men. It is generally believe that, though the disarming of the deerfolk continued, that Kenji's rebellion prevented the shogun from instituting the worst of his edicts, lest another rebellion begin.
The ramifications of this rebellion are not fully understood among the minotaur caste, as the garnered animosity and understanding that this warrior caste is capable of defeat is a fact few deerfolk have forgotten. While the peaceful nature of deerfolk prevents another full scale rebellion, in particular given the rather decent standard of living within legion areas, deerfolk are resolute on maintaining autonomy where they can. Those samurai who had returned to civilian life after the rebellion began training in secret, choosing to use their discipline and training to adopt skills within subterfuge, political intrigue, assassination, and spying. Former samurai clans became shinobi, turning towards the profitable work of court manipulation, spying, and contract murder to retain their positions of influence and wealth, though done now in secret. Where as a minotaur might cut an imposing figure, a giant clad and armor and wielding a mighty weapon to strike fear in his enemies, a deerfolk represents a different kind of terror, one that is impossible to see among a crowd of other deerfolk, mingling with servants, with attendants, clerks, workers, menials, anyone of them carrying a weapon or poison beneath a coat or hidden within a sleeve.
While the status quo of not being directly involved with the current shogunate remains, the deerfolk are the power behind the throne, with clans of shinobi ensuring that the shogun nor his daimyo ever go too far. Minotaurs and deerfolk are loathe to speak about this, even in secret, but all are keenly aware that there is a balance of power maintained between the two races and the idea of master and slave is something only a fool would say aloud, lest he find himself awakening to a masked face plunging a knife into his throat or being cleaved in two by a minotaur who knows that letting such words stand unchallenged is as much a threat to them as the speaker.
Mentality
Deerfolk have a peculiar mentality of peace through retaliatory violence. They enjoy a simple, humble, working life among family and friends. Deerfolk generally lack ambition as a whole, they desire little in life beyond having their basic needs met and being treated well and fairly. This easy going nature is part of why they find themselves in the position they are in, being second class among their own nation but still treated quite well, barred from positions of military or leadership but otherwise free to live as they choose knowing that a daimyo or noble who demands too much or becomes too cruel will often swiftly die of natural causes. Deerfolk are natural pacifists but are more than capable of great violence, they are far from harmless, and as long as they are largely left alone to their peaceful lives, they are content.