Ježoľud je jedným z hrateľných druhov mysliacich bytostí v stolnom RPG Príležitosť robí zlodeja. Hráčova postava môže byť členom ježoľudu a to isté platí aj pre nehráčové postavy.
The hedgefolk are frequently referred to by the colloquialisms
“hedgehogmen”, “hedgemen”, “hedgers” and “spikeys”, the latter term
being more jocular, and occassionally derogatory. Humanoid insectivores
with a unique natural defence adaptation on their backs, the hedgehogmen
are one of the most docile of mammalian beastfolk species. They are
also one of the few of these sapient species to dabble in fully settled,
plant-growing agriculture, in the same vein as humans. This has earned
them the reputation of peace-loving, “salt of the earth” farmers,
tending to their fields and insect farms dilligently from dawn till
dusk. However, hedgehogmen are certainly more layered and much less
simplistic than that. Despite the aforementioned reputation, not all
hedgehogmen are soft-spoken and cheery country bumpkins who “…tip their
hats at every bypasser with a child-like smile…”, as some popular
stories and sayings go.
Hedgehogmen, especially those of more recent centuries, can just as well
be cosmopolitan urbanites and succesful industralists or businessmen.
It helps that they are an industrious and doggedly diligent species.
Only few other beastfolk species come close to their levels of business
savvy and entrepreneurial spirit. While the hedgefolk are the least
conflict-prone with the other sapient species populating the known
world, they aren't all saints. They too have their collection of
criminals, conmen, murderers, swindlers and other less pleasant
individuals. They can be bigots, some of the more prideful ones can even
act like back-handed racists at times. Some, even those of the
kind-hearted and amicable majority, can harbour their own little
prejudices, especially with regards to what cultural and economic roles
they play within the interactions between the various sapient species.
In terms of relations with other species, hedgehogmen usually get along
remarkably well with most of them. There is some friction between them
and stoatmen, though. The species they're by far the chummiest with tend
to be both branches of the smallfolk, though particularly the rarachs.
In fact, relations between the two species are commonly so good, that
it's not anything odd to see whole towns and villages consist of a
tolerant intermingling of rarach-hedgefolk neighbourhoods, where rarach
children and “hedgetots” play together and form many an endearing
friendship.
Some of the more minor stereotypes/anecdotes about hedgefolk include the
mostly-Lengelian claim that they have an affinity for apples and pears,
or the near-universally widespread claim that the species only has one
sex. While the former myth probably comes from children's bedtime
stories, the latter myth seems to be a reflection of the fact that
sexual dimorphism between male and female hedgers isn't that
particularly pronounced and that their society is one of the most
egalitarian among all sapient species of the known world. As the
cultures of several species tend to have very clearly delineated male
and female responsibilities, duties and acceptable roles, the
hedgefolk's tendency to treat males and females and their wishes with
equal respect often draws confused looks or even outrage and ridicule
from those that are not hedgefolk. The hedgefolk are similar in
appearance, both men and women, though you can tell them apart by some
facial features and other outward features, by voice, and males being
usually a tiny bit taller. They are creatures of a shorter stature, with
150 centimeters (ca 4 feet 11 inches) considered tall for their
species. The tallest male hedgehogmen grow to heights between 140-150
centimeters. However, this still makes them taller than the vast
majority of Rarachs and Permons ! The shorter to average-height adult
members of the hedgefolk are somewhere around 130-140 centimeters. A
male or female hedger maturing from a child to an adult would often
range from 100 to 130 cm tall.
The culinary tastes of hedgefolk might seem repulsive to many, as the
meaty staples of their diet consist of domestically raised insects,
annelids, molluscs and small amphibians of various kinds. Hedgefolk
clothing, though mostly similar to human and other beastmen clothing,
does have some unique features. The backsides of their clothes are made
from an almost net-like material, allowing for their spikes to get
through the surface of the backside and stick out. The spikes are not
entirely covered by the clothes and it makes wearing upper clothing more
comfortable to the hedgefolk. Wearing armour is also a bit tricky, as
some armour types have to accomodate the presence of spikes on the back.
In the case of lighter forms of armour, hedgefolk often avoid
backplates and other back-covers entirely, given the spikes on their
back. However, there are also certain disadvantages to this approach,
due to the back still being vulnerable to spears, polearms and
higher-velocity projectiles. Thus, a hedgehogman's choice of armour - if
he or she opts for any at all - is always rooted in a careful balancing
act between adequate protection of the spine-covered back (in addition
to other parts of the body) and not sacrificing too much mobility and
flexibility due to some prevailing vulnerable aspects of that same back.
As is usual for all sapient species of the known world, hedgehogmen come
in several different phenotypes, influenced by geography and (yet
unknown) genetics: Typically, the hedgers of west Aporue (“Westies”) are
of more pale or greyish colour tones, while the ones of east Aporue
(“Easties”) tend to have more richly darker and duskier body colours.
The native language of the hedgefolk is known under the (rather whimsical) name of Pricklish.
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Skills and stealth, combat and thieving talents
Hedgehogmen have always been a defensive-minded folk - as would befit
their natural adaptations of rolling up into impenetrable balls of
keratinous back spikes. These notions have certainly had an effect on
hedgefolk psychology and customs, and are the reason why they have never
really created armies or large groups of combatants, and why the only
wars of note they had fought in were defensive wars. The “defence first,
offence second” approach has informed a deeply-rooted undercurrent of
pro-pacifist thought running through the entirety of the species'
culture and spirituality (though it has also inadvertently reinforced
the “hedgehogmen are naive idealists” stereotypes held by others).
Make no mistake: When a hedgefolk member is forced into a fight, to
defend what he or she holds dear and worthy of protection, he or she
won't waste a single moment to leap into action and give the attacker(s)
what-for. However, the notion of abusing the upper hand and leading a
cunning and crushing offensive against an enemy, no matter its size, is
rather alien, if not outright vulgar to the spiky-backed folk.
Furthermore, hedgehogmen usually dislike covert tactics such as
diversions, spying, assasinations, sabotages and the like, as they
believe they constitute a degree of treachery that is unwarranted and is
beneath their ethical standards. Sadly, this can get exploited at times
by some of the hedgefolk's enemies.
Part of why the hedgefolk are quite good at fighting whenever the need
calls for it, is because everyone seems to underestimate them in that
regard, based on their shorter height and slightly ridiculous looks. :-) There are sharp minds hidden behind those pointy noses and
innocent-seeming, child-like eyes... Famously, they're surprisingly good
longsword fighters, many of them adept at two-handed swordfighting and
swordsman brawling techniques. Hedgefolk are also pretty good shots and
it's not unusual for them to be skilled with an array of ranged weapons,
mechanical and gunpowder ones alike.
As thieves, they often take up roles that allow them to work in a group.
Either behind the scenes, or as technological specialists and craftsmen
(including gadget and bomb developers or expert safecrackers), or as
intel-gatherers, mingling with society on the streets or even at public
events. Given that they tend to prefer team work, the hedgers that opt
to live their lives as professional thieves often join either
fellowships or guilds of thieves. Entirely "lone wolf" freelancer
thieves are almost completely unheard of among the hedgefolk.
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Autorove poznámky
Strange as they seem at first glance, the hedgefolk are a hobbit-y sort.
Short in stature, defensive-minded, amicable in behaviour. Often
underestimated as harmless and meek exactly for the aforementioned
qualities. In reality, they're an individually and socially complex
bunch, and come in at least two major phenotypes throughout Aporue.
There are only bits and pieces of real world inspiration behind the
hedgefolk, aside from hedgehog biology and behaviour. The racial
division into “Westies” and “Easties” is a reference to the real world's
distinct species of hedhehogs in Europe, but the connection is turned
on its head, as East is West in Aporue, and vice versa (thus, the
“Westies” actually have outward characteristics of Eastern Europe's hedgehogs, and the Easties have those of the Western European species).
I know what some of you might be wanting to ask... "Peter, are the ' hedgers' inspired by the main character from Hans Mein Igel, 'Hans My Hedgehog', the fairytale
collected and interpreted by the Brothers Grimm ?" Weeeellll...
Actually, no. I know it sounds odd, given that I have explicitly stated
my setting has fantasy elements that are friendly to the tropes of many
European fairytales of centuries past, but Hans Mein Igel was not a
conscious inspiration for the hedgehogmen, even if he might seem like an
obvious source of inspiration. I did know about the existence of the
fairytale and the character, but IMHO luckily, I didn't know any details
before I got to designing my hedgehogmen. Now, years later, when I
finally bothered to read about the fairytale in detail, I can certainly
see where people have found the connection ! Obviously, my examples are
far more grounded than the fairytale's more abstract, curse-afflicted
Hans, a half-hedgehog riding around on a rooster (!), but if you see him
as one possible distant inspiration, you can see him as such. Just
don't take the inspiration literally, as the hedgehog-like outward
apperance is about the only real connection there is. The fairytale is
also known in Polish and Czech, but it's not as famous over here as in German-speaking and English-speaking countries.
The bit of concept art featured below was one of the earliest creature
sketches I did for the setting. When I was coming up with the appearance
for the "beastmen" of my setting (at least those from Aporue), one of
the trickiest things I realised early on was that I don't want them to
look too human or too cartoonish. For each species, I had to find a
strange middle-ground, where they both look like their animal
inspirations, but also have little skeletal, tissue and surface details
that are meant to evoke the bodies of normal humans. Even a relatively
"cutesy" species like the hedgehogmen needed to look like something you
could associate with humans, instead of just being humanoid hedgehogs
straight out of a Disney flick. On the other hand, I didn't want them to
look like people with a few spikes on the back. I felt either approach
would have been lazy, so I went with something more unique, but grounded
and simple.
In the setting, a popularly peddled theory about the origins of
non-human humanoids is that they're simply human beings cursed into
animalistic forms. It might be true. Or it might not. No one in my
setting knows the exact truth about these species' exact origins, as it
seems to have been lost to ancient history. This is part of the reason
why the "beastmen" species aren't too animal in appearance, or too
clearly human. I've intentionally put them in a position where they
occupy a slightly uncomfortable middle ground. This is done in order to
keep up a perpetual sense of mystery about them (even though they're
commonly occuring characters). You can't tell where exactly the human
features and animal features of a hedgehogman/newtman/stoatman/etc.
begin and where they end. That's part of the point. They're neither
Redwall characters, nor are they "furries" with only superficial animal
features.
Oh, and that info about the hedgers being good at longsword fighting ? Imagine the shorter-haired guy from this video as a hedger. Yep, that much...
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Galéria
Moja ručne kreslená konceptová skica pre člena ježoľudu, alias ježanov
- výzorovo sú rozhodne na "roztomilejšej" strane, ale stále pomerne čudesní
Ďalšia z mojich ručne kreslených konceptových skíc pre "ježanov"
Áno, tento ježan nosí odev v štýle 16./17. storočia, vrátane dobových topánok, bričesiek (krátkych nohavíc), vlnených pančúch a pohodlného kabáta. Jednu nohu má vyloženú na drevenom polienku, a v rukách drží mušketu s kolieskovým zámkom, opretú pažbou o zem/polienko...
Všimnite si modifikovaný charakter kabáta, umožňujúceho vytŕčanie chrbtových ostňov zo zadnej strany kabáta. Nie som si istý, či je úplne presná poznámka, ktorú som tam na okraji zanechal, pretože som ňou pravdepodobne myslel, že nositeľ je v páse chudší, pretože kabát je dlhší a pokrýva čať nositeľovho pásu i horný koniec nohavíc. Nohavice-bričesky sú voľné, plantavé, takže sa môže nechtiac zdať, že pás tohto ježana je posadený nižšie, než v skutočnosti je. Samozrejme, priznávam, nie som žiaden veľký výtvarník.
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Ojedinelý príklad zdobenej prilbice pre plnú zbroj vojenského typu,
používanej relatívne zriedkavými ježanskými šľachticmi so záujmom o bojovanie
Demonymá
| Anglické názvoslovie | Slovenské názvoslovie | Etymológia a poznámky |
|---|---|---|
| Beastpeoples | Zveroľud(ia) | The general term for beastpeoples in Aporue and other continents of the Orbis Furum. |
| Beastman, Beastwoman, Beastmen, Beastwomen | Zveran, Zveranka, Zverani, Zveranky | The everyday terms for males and females of the various beastpeople species. |
| Hedgefolk | Ježoľud | Ježe pripomínajúci humanoidi kontinentu Aporue a iných kontinentov, bežný druh zveroľudí, jeden z najrozšírenejších. |
| Hedgehogman/-woman, Hedgehogmen/-women | Ježan, Ježanka, Ježani, Ježanky | The everyday terms for males and females of the hedgefolk. |
| Hedger, Hedgers | Ježan, Ježania | The nicknames for the hedgefolk. The term for a hedgehog in Slovak is jež (diminutive ježko). |
| Spikeys, Pricklebacks, Hogs | Špicatí, Pichliačochrbty, Rypáci | The derogatory nicknames for the hedgefolk. |
| Aporueans | Aporuejčania, Aporuejci | Any inhabitants of the continent of Aporue. Equivalent of Europeans. |
| Melzans | Melzania | Demonym for people of the Melzan statelet (the country) or its capital city of Melza. |
| Melzan | Melzan, Melzanka | A male or female inhabitant of the statelet in my fictional world, or of the city of Melza that the overall monarchy is named after. |
| Cittan | Mesťan, Mesťanka | Contrast these newly coined words with citizen and townsman and občan and mešťan (same meaning in English). The Cittans / Mesťania are only the people from The City (city / mesto), the city of Melza proper. These are always capitalised. "Cittans are citizens/townsmen of Melza." / "Mesťania sú občanmi/mešťanmi Melzy." Yes, the Slovak equivalent of Cittans only differs by two letters from the real term for "townsmen". |
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Záverečné slovo
Mal som dojem, že by bolo najvhodnejšie načať prehľad "chlpatých" zveroľudí kontinentu Aporue najroztomilejšie pôsobiacim druhom.
Ako môžete čítať z mojich opisov, hoci sú ježani výzorovo milšie pôsobiacim druhom, sú rovnako komplexní ako ktorýkoľvek iný druh obyvateľov sveta, a majú ďaleko k tomu, aby ich niekto odpísal len ako humorné postavičky či "ňoumovské" roly v rámci dejiska.
Nabudúce...
Nabudúce sa pozrieme na druh, ktorý je o trošku drsnejší a bližší ľuďom, i keď ostáva nie ľudským humanoidným druhom.
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Ďalšie prehľady mysliacich druhov v Príležitosť robí zlodeja (Thick as Thieves)
- Ľudia (ľudstvo) - prehľad
- Mločniaci (Mlokoľud) - prehľad
- Kuňania (Kunoľud) - prehľad
- Guloni (Rosomľud) - prehľad
- Vydrania (Vydroľud) - prehľad
- Hraníci (Hraniľud) - prehľad
- Homárňania a Krabeni (Kôriľud) - prehľad
- Vranmuži (Vraniľud) - prehľad (apokryfný druh)
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Copyright
(C) 2014, 2021 P. Molnár & Knight-Errant Studios - Koncepty/nápady, text,
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