Hanau

Started by Jubal, March 25, 2019, 11:47:26 PM

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Jubal

The Hanau epe, or long-ears, also known as "elves", but most commonly known as "hanau" (which is really literally just the word for "people" in their own language), are a moderately common people of the world of Kavis, especially its warmer climes.

The most obvious physical characteristic that marks the Hanau out from regular humans is their leaf-shaped, pointed ears, hence the term long-ear for them. They are often a little shorter and lighter of build than humans, though the difference is one of degree and with significant overlap. Whether they are genuinely a different species from humans is something of a mystery - interbreeding is rumoured to be possible, but there are few cases of it outside stories. They are not immortal despite some legends to the contrary among shorter lived species, but do not tend to show significant physical ageing signs other than a whitening of the hair after the age of around two hundred; older hanau also become increasingly forgetful of their youth, with something of a "memory capacity" issue after about 200 years. Many nonetheless die of diseases or through other causes such as war, childbirth, accident, and so on: the oldest of them may be very old indeed, but probably wouldn't actively remember that this was the case.

The Hanau mainly live in the equatorial regions of the world, and are keen sailors and traders, with catamarans being their characteristic ship style. Whilst their range of skin tones and hair colours is similarly broad to those of dwarves and humans, a stereotypical individual found in the parts of the world I'm initially covering with this setting would be more likely to have sallow, olive, or reddish skin, and dark brown to black hair. They tend to wear loose, flowing clothing appropriate to their area of the world, and headscarves and turbans are common headwear.



Design notes

The name "Hanau epe" comes from Easter Island folklore, in which they were one of two semi-legendary peoples who battled over the island sometime in the distant past. It does indeed mean "long ears" - probably. One specialist thinks it's actually "stout people", but ah well, it's "long-ears" here!
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

Glaurung

Quote from: Jubal on March 25, 2019, 11:47:26 PM
The name "Hanau epe" comes from Easter Island folklore, ...
No relation to the town east of Frankfurt am Main?

Jubal

No - I've been using the term hanau for (albeit quite different in earlier versions) fantasy pointy-eared races since a long time before my current trip to Germany :) The German town is coincidental!
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...