Suel (Greyhawk)

Descended from refugees of the homeland that is now the Sea of Dust, the Suel are a fair-skinned folk. Most Suel have merged with Oerdian and Flan to form a mixed population in the central Flaness; the groups that remain culturally Suel have done so because of isolation and xenophobia.

Cultural Traits

The Suel are a race of contrasts, and their traits can manifest in very different ways, often in pairs of virtues and vices. Suel tend to go to extremes in alignment.

Thrifty/Selfish, Competitive/Domineering, Honest/Blunt, Self-assured/Opinionated, Ambitious/Proud.

Real-World Models

Scandinavians (appearance), Romans (culture). These are the archetypal Hollywood Romans; blonde, icy blue eyes, ruthless, efficient, often cruel and racist.

Alignment

The Suel are traditionally tolerant about good-evil variations. Even in the Scarlet Brotherhood, good members can be tolerated as long as they contribute to the power of the order. Instead, the conflicts within the Suel are between Law and Chaos. There is a constant conflict between loyalty and pride within each Suel. Few Suel are ever neutral on the Law - Chaos axle; it is not uncommon to have a crisis of faith, where the individual changes his past allegiance and decides to either roam free or adhere to order. Even seemingly lawful Suel often have some hidden vice, while the most freedom-loving and proud can accept great trials to uphold an oath or some tie of loyalty.

Sexual Mores

Practices : Birth control (often post-natal).

Taboos : Breeding outside race, Incest.

Marriage : Conventional. Decent is traced through the same gender, females having matrilinear descent, males patrilinear descent, leading to incredibly complex family trees. This is further complicated by strict rules against incest of second cousins, which means family trees are very important. The nuclear family is very strong, the extended family too complex and interwoven to function.

Magic

Suel have an deep attraction to magic and use it to change the world around them with transmutation spells or to summon and bind supernatural servants with conjuration spells. Great theorists, the Sueloise prefer wizards to sorcerers or bards. Divine magic is often focused on means rather than ends; Suel classify miracles by domain rather than ethos. The northern suel are under a curse that prevents them from using magic - even tough this curse is slowly lifting, their culture has become hostile to most magic use.

Pantheon

Suel gods tend to be very lawful or very chaotic and are examples of skill and ability rather than great leaders with a personal agenda. There was a great turnover of Suel gods after the twin cataclysms; Lendor, the leader of the pantheon, became very withdrawn and is hardly known today which left a power vacuum others were quick to usurp.

Name	Rank	Alignment	Sphere	Domains
Bahamut	Lesser	LG	Good dragons, Wind	Air, Good, Luck, Protection, Cold, Dragon	Suel, Dragon, Elder
Beltar	Lesser	CN	Malice, Caves, Pits, Nonhumans	Chaos, Death, Evil, War, Scalykind,	Suel
Bralm	Lesser	LN	Insects, Industriousness	Animal, Law, Strength, Community, Pact	Suel
Dalt	Lesser	CG	Portals, Doors, Enclosures	Chaos, Good, Protection, Travel, Trickery	Suel
Jascar	Lesser	LG	Hills, Mountains	Earth, Good, Law, Protection	Suel
Joramy	Lesser	CG	Fire, Volcanoes, Wrath, Quarrel	Destruction, Fire, War, Competition	Suel
Kord	Intermediate	CG	Athletics, Sport, Courage	Chaos, Good, Strength, Competition, Courage	Common, Suel
Lendor	Intermediate	LN	Time, Patience, Study	Knowledge, Law, Protection, Time	Suel, Elder
Llerg	Lesser	CN	Beasts, Strength	Animal, Chaos, Strength, Courage	Suel
Lydia	Lesser	LG	Music, Knowledge, Daylight	Good, Knowledge, Sun, Travel	Suel
Norebo	Lesser	CN	Luck, Gambling, Risks	Chaos, Trickery, Luck	Suel
Osprey	Lesser	LN	Sea voyages, Ships, Sailors	Law, protection, Water	Suel
Phaukon	Lesser	CG	Wind, Clouds, Birds, Archery	Air, Animal, Chaos, Good, War, Magic	Suel
Phyton	Lesser	CG	Nature, Beauty, Farming	Chaos, Good, Plant, Sun, Water	Suel
Pyremius	Lesser	LE	Fire, Poison, Murder	Destruction, Evil, Fire	Suel, Humanoid
Syrul	Lesser	CE	Lies, Deceit, Treachery, False promises	Evil, Knowledge, Trickery	Suel
Tiamat	Lesser	LE	Evil dragons, Conquest	Destruction, Evil, Law, Trickery, Dragon	Suel, Dragon, Elder
Tharizdun	Intermediate	NE	Eternal darkness, Decay, Entropy, Malign knowledge, Insanity	Destruction, Evil, Knowledge, Force, Madness	Common, Elder, Suel
Vatun	Lesser	CN	Northern barbarians, Cold, Winter, Arctic beasts	Animal, Chaos, Strength, Cold	Suel
Wee Jas	Intermediate	LN (LE)	Magic, Death, Vanity, Law	Death, Law, Magic, Domination, Mind	Common, Suel
Xerbo	Lesser	N	Sea, Sailing, Money, Business, Sea monsters	Animal, Knowledge, Water	Suel

Traits

Child of Empires

You are a true child of the Suel heritage; strong-willed and arrogant.

Benefit: The DC of Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against you are increased by 5.

Hardy Survivor

You are a descendant of those who survived centuries of persecution by flight. You may have grown up a refuge in the jungle but can still be trained in a civilized class.

Benefit: You have Survival as a class skill and get a +1 trait bonus on Survival rolls.

Master of Seals

You have inherited some of the power of those who forged the ancient binding seals for genies.

Benefit: You get a +2 trait bonus on all Charisma checks related to binding called creatures. You can pick the supernatural languages (Abyssal, Auram, Aquam, Celestial, Ingam, Infernal, Terram) as starting languages. See Linguistics for a description of these languages.

Rage Against Magic

You carry the curse of the exiled northern houses of the Suel in your blood. Magic causes you intense pain, but this pain helps you resist magical influence.

Benefit: When you fail a Will saving throw against a spell or spell-like ability, you can choose to take hit point damage equal to the spell's level and be dazed for one round to immediately make a new saving throw. You can only gain one additional try at each such saving throw. If you use an spell or spell-like ability, even from a device, you take one hit point of damage per level of the spell.

Secret Order

The Suel relish orders and cabals, and you are a member of one of these secretive groups.

Benefit: You get a +2 trait bonus on Knowledge (local) checks and on Diplomacy checks to gather information.