Average Lifespan Roughly sixty to a hundred years.
Skin ColorsWhite, red, blue, purple, green, yellow, olive, light brown, and dark brown.
Hair ColorsBlack, dark brown, light brown, red, and white.
Eye ColorsBrown, hazel, green, blue, amber, red, white, and gray.
Average HeightMales : 5’8” - 6’0” (172.72 cm - 182.88 cm)
Females : 5’2” - 5’9” (157.48 cm - 175.26 cm)
Racial Bonuses+1 Dexterity, +2 Perception, +2 Wisdom, +1 Constitution
History
Much has been lost of the origins of the Honfokun (also “Honfo”). They first arrived on the shores of Yongcun in the year 5 IE after their homeland was destroyed during the arrival of the yaoguai - confirming that the disaster had affected faraway lands as well. After the destruction of their entire civilization the horned people took to the ocean to find a new home spending many moons in a directionless search. Starvation, sickness, and storms accosted them the entire voyage and by the time they arrived in the lands of Folk they numbered less than four thousand - their entire race nearly annihilated.
The Folk were suspicious at first believing the Honfo to be some form of yaoguai. The Honfo made continuous pleading appeals until Emperor Xiao Hui agreed to grant them a small piece of territory of their own under the condition they surrender all of their weapons and half of their remaining ships. Wary but desperate the Honfo complied. They named their new land Karitu and built the great city of Cimanu, a polished gem and testament to their peoples’ prowess.
Over the generations the Honfo would increase in number and in time the Folk grew warm to their presence, admiring them for their craftsmanship and embracing much of their culture as well. In later years Karitu became a willing vassal of the Eternal Empire and developed strong ties with Yongcun. Through wars, civil strife, and disasters Karitu and the Honfokun people have stood with the Empire for better or worse. At times these relations have frayed but never have they broken.
Physiology
The Honfokun are well recognized for the massive horns that grow from atop their heads, their pointed ears, and their many different skin colors. They are the same height and size as Folk and share most of the same traits including lifespan - anywhere from sixty to a hundred years. Honfo mature and age at the same pace that Folk do, males and females alike considered to be young adults when they have neared their twentieth year.
Married Honfokun women typically bare between three to five children in their lives. Honfokun are incapable of cross-race breeding, any unions between themselves and a person of another race are always sterile.
The horns of a Honfo symbolize strength and constitution and large horns on both males and females are seen as one being strong and unwavering. Honfo will often decorate their horns with paints, chains, gold bands, and thin piercings.
Dehorning or breaking off of horns is seen as humiliating and shameful.
Society and Culture
The Honfokun have a proud and rich culture. Their architecture, artistry, literature, music, poetry and more are all appreciated and often prized by others. Their pension for craftsmanship and invention have lead the other races to admire - or envy - them as resourceful and hardworking. Honfo architecture is the sturdiest known and many nobility in the Empire have their estates and castles erected under the lead of Honfo builders and planners.
The Honfokun are also acclaimed for their hand in advancing medicine in the Empire, something that the Folk had little experience with having relied so long on the healing of the divine magics. Acupuncture was first introduced by early Honfo physicians as were a number of herbal substances used to boost resistance to common sicknesses.
Honfo dishes are a favorite among those that can afford the best. The Honfokun diet consists mostly of fish, pork, beef, chicken, and rice as well as many types of leaf vegetables and fruits. Salted and fermented fish and vegetables are a regular choice of meal among nobility.
“Senshodo” is the Honfokun warriors’ dogma of old, studied by Imperial generals and footmen alike. Senshodo is a moral code more than a martial one in truth and teaches that a warrior must live a life of loyalty, honor, diligence, and courage and be willing to die for what they hold dear and for who they serve. Senshodo of course has its’ own schools of sword, hand-to-hand, and polearm combat technique which have been passed down over generations. The origins of senshodo can be traced back to the first Guardians of Mosati who wrote the
Gensauri, a compilation of texts that illuminated the way of the warriors. Sadly these were all lost during the destruction of the Honfokun civilization.
Gender laws are very strict in Honfokun society; men are statesmen, warriors, traders, farmers, hunters, craftsmen, fishers, thinkers, and monks and priests. Women are housekeepers, servants, wives, mothers, and second to the men of their lives - and if they have no man in their life they are to find one.
However there is another option for Honfo women and that is to become “ransutor” - “living as a man”. To achieve
ransutor a woman must declare her desire to do so and then prove her worth among men through feats of wit, strength, and determination. Once she has done so she is stated as being worthy among men and her life is now anew as she so wishes it.
Religion
Like so much of their early civilization much of the Honfokun ways were lost to the yaoguai scourge, their temples, relics, and records all destroyed in the fires of darkness. What they do cling to is what little was salvaged from their old land and what was remembered and rewritten. Kizunatsu - the creator of the Honfo - shaped his people from the clay of the heavens and then placed them on the seven large Mosati Islands. He took residence on the highest mountain where his people had built a magnificent palace of gold and silver for him.
When their god departed them the Honfokun did not believe that he had been fooled but rather left his creations at the mercy of the dark ones as punishment for their sins. Many claim that before their fall the Honfo people had grown arrogant, slothful, and decadent and earned the scorn of Kizunatsu. Others claim it to have been the fault of the senshodo, that they had used the sacred warriors' way for their greedy ambitions angering the Guardians of Mosati who spirited away Kizunatsu - some say by force others say coercion. Many have questioned this varied theory in the past and pointed out the abandonment of the other peoples by their gods as well. "Then not just ourselves - the whole world truly - had become a sickened and corrupt place." one scholar is quoted to have said.
While there are many branches of theory on the departure of the gods among the Honfokun there is some consensus to the future, that Kizunatsu and perhaps the others gods will return. "The barrier between worlds was raised by mortals, a mere hiccup of an attempt to stop the arrival of any divine", so will say any Honfo monk or scholar. The Honfokun pray for the return of their god and for pardons for their transgressions. Their moral code of old was very similar to that of the Folkish moralities recognized and employed by the Empire hence the Honfokun live by this in hopes of pleasing their god watching from above so that when he does return it will not be with fire from his eyes and maw.
This idea of a future ushered forth by the return of their god have made the Honfokun a more pious people, religion playing a greater part in their lives by comparison of the Folk. While the Honfo do not sneer at their peers they find the decaying faith of Folk discouraging.
Notes and Facts
• The Honfokun are an inspired meshing of Japanese and Korean culture.
• The Honfokun old tongue is a rough combination of Japanese and Korean.
• As with Folk commoners and those born illegitimately do not typically have family/clan names. Most have a given name and refer to their birthplace or home village, town, or city to identify themselves.
• Of the listed races Honfukun have the most overall amicable relations with others, their only rival/enemy people being the hated Kulnar in the north.
• “Horn Head” is a slang term for Honfokun, depending on the involved individuals it can be received with peevish endearment or taken as a provocative insult.