The martenmen are some of the most varied, most settled and most widely
distributed species of beastfolk in the surrounding world. Often
colloquially referred to as “martenfolk” and “marts”, they come in three
broadly distinct varieties/races (at least as far as the Aporuean marts
are considered). These are the “piners”, who dwell in forested areas and their vicinity (in both the mountains and some of the uplands and lowlands), the “stonies”, who are more generalist and are equally at home in wide open spaces in the lowlands and mountains, and finally, the “sablemen”
of shiny dark fur, who prefer to live in the taiga and tundra in the
cold northern reaches of the continent. In total, this gives the
martenfolk quite a bit of range as a species and as a civilisation.
Naturally, being so widespread and being so varied also comes with some
drawbacks: The martenfolk lack some of the greater sense of unity that
other, smaller beastfolk civilisations tend to have.
Furthermore, the martenfolk can be described best as a species-wide
example of “jack-of-all-trades, master of none”. Martenmen and
martenwomen are very skilled and dexterous, but with the exception of
their unparalleled climbing abilities, no members of the species can
truly out-excel other species of beastpeople (be it newtmen, stoatmen,
hedgehogmen, ottermen, wolverinemen, etc.). However, it is this same
seeming mediocrity that allows the martenmen a more balanced and more
comfortable, middle-of-the-road approach to things, unlike the more
specialisation-prone attitudes, outlooks and choices of their cousins.
(This invites some comparisons to humans of the bigfolk variety.) The
martenfolk are the larger, more burlier and less swift cousins of the
stoatmen, but not as burly as the wolverinmen, nor as tall as the
ottermen. All three humanoid species are close relatives to the
martenmen, though all four species stand alone in their physical and
mental abilities and their capability of interbreeding. The martenmen
are behind all three of their cousin species of beastmen in nearly every
category... except climbing. This is a skill they excel at. Though they
might not be the swiftest climbers, they are very skillful and
confident at climbing.
Along with the hedgefolk, the martenfolk are the most open of all
beastpeoples to embracing the latest technological innovations. Due to
their sheer variety, this is not and cannot be a universal constant
among the martenfolk. Countryside martenfolk in general, and most
members of the sablemen race, are known as more conservative when it
comes to these matters. Nevertheless, swift-enough adoption and
adaptation of new technologies is an element that is clearly present
within martenfolk society. While newtfolk, stoatfolk and otterfolk are
content with utilising and borrowing more advanced technologies and
industrial era products for their own benefit, and wolverfolk and
crustfolk are staunch traditionalists, martenfolk and hedgefolk are
technological enthusiasts. The reasons range from mundane practicality
or prestige among the beastpeoples, to a simple desire for a more
comfortable life. As with the hedgehogmen, humans don't consider it
particularly odd when both rural and urban martenfolk use steam engines,
gaslamp lighting, new-fangled calcs,
newspapers, hotplate cookers, electric ovens, steam locomotives,
firearms, petrol or battery powered motor carriages, powered circular
saws and mining drills, modern foundries and steel mills, steamboats, or
even the occassional small airship or 'thopter.
The piners and stonies are the two more technologically and industrially
open-minded races of Aporue's martenmen. Though the two races are very
similar and close to each other, there are certain phenotypical,
historical, cultural and economic differences between the two. In
addition to these two varieties, there is also a third variety, the
sablemen.
Piners
The piners have a generally darker complexion, their fur often having
dark brown and yellow-ish tones. They are arguably the most common
race/phenotype of the martenmen. Despite their colloquial name, they
inhabit a wide range of forests, deciduous as well as coniferous, from
the lowlands to some higher mountain ranges. Tree-mounted villages and
small towns are part of traditional piner architecture. On average,
piners tend to have a more meat and animal products heavy diet than
their relatives the stonies (though perhaps less than the
northern-dwelling sablemen). Piners generally tend to dabble in
forestry, logging, hunting, developing herbal products and
pharmaceuticals, though light industry - including sawmills,
paper-mills, textile manufactories, canneries, etc. - and some amount of
agriculture both play an important role as well. Piners living near
riverine areas commonly work and trade closely with river otterfolk
(mostly with fish and crustaceans, often intended for their processed
meat products). As is often the case, stoatfolk often find plenty of
well-paid work in the employ of the martenfolk, but particularly the
piners. The piners share good relations with most species, though they
might not understand the newtmen all that much.
Stonies
The stonies are, in contrast to the piners, a race of martenmen that is
more specialised for a lifestyle in mountainous areas, including
hardier, mountainous woodlands. In this respect, similarly to how
hedgehogmen and piners coexist particularly well with rarachs down in
the lowlands and uplands, the stonies of the highlands and mountains get
along very well especially with the permons. The environments preferred
by the stonies have had an effect on their phenotype just as much as on
the other fellow races of the species: A typical stonie is shorter than
a piner and sports a more lightly coloured, pale brown coat, as well as
white-coloured fur in place of the yellowish fur of the piners. Their
diet also tends to be more omnivorousthan the diets of the piners and
the sablemen. Due to living in close proximity with the permons the most
out of all other species, the stonies often share entire mining towns
with them, creating interesting blended societies (much like the mixed
communities of rarachs and hedgefolk). As one would expect, while the
stonies often share interest in most of the same industries as the
piners, they focus a lot more on mining, ore extraction, heavier
industries, as well as on metallurgical and mining research.
Sablemen
The northernly sablemen are by far the most traditionally minded race of
the martenfolk. Though they are not above buying, utilising and
maintaining more mechanized technologies and vehicles when needed, their
economic activities still concentrate on (marginal) agriculture, on
herding, fur trading, domestic handicrafts, and even shipping and
transport services in some cases. Their diet tends to be the most
meat-heavy of the three martenfolk varieties.
The native language (and dialects) of the Piner and Stonie variety martenfolk are known as Common Martish (or just Martish), and the related but more distinct native language (and dialects) of the Sablemen martenfolk is known simply as Sablish.
Skills and stealth, combat and thieving talents
The sablemen traditionally wear the least armour, even in warfare, and
they use mostly traditional melee and ranged weapons, with a general
focus on stealthiness and hit-and-run ranged skills. Piners have always
tended to inclinate towards medium armour (and occassionally heavier
armour) and a general focus on both melee and ranged skills. The
traditional reputation of the stonies points to them wearing finely
crafted heavier armour and focusing mostly on melee combat skills.
Within a stealthy, professional thieving context, the martenfolk overall
are a middle-of-the-road species, much like humans. Regardless of the
traditional inclinations of the martenfolk's three races, each martenman
or martenwoman generally offers a balanced skillset, in a
“jack-of-all-trades, master of none” sort of way. Perhaps the only
standout thieving-friendly ability unique to the martenfolk, are their
swift climbing abilities. They make excellent cat burglars, and their
skill at navigating the "thieves' highway" (i.e. the pathways on roofs
in a city or town) is unmatched by any of the other sapient species.
As professional thieves, martenfolk are some of the beaspeoples most
likely to opt for a freelance, "lone wolf" thieving career, in addition
to the frequent choice of joining a fellowship of thieves or a guild.
- | - | - | -
Author's note
The martenfolk are in many ways one of the key sapient species of my
setting, certainly so with regards to the continent of Aporue. They are
by far the most numerous of the beastpeople, and in their numbers, also
come in not one or two, but outright three varieties throughout the
continent. While the sablemen are essentially confined to the north of
the continent and are a northern culture through and through, the piners
and the stonies are widespread elsewhere, alternating with each other
depending on the natural and social environment. Three varieties, three
different appearances, though overall, essentially the very same species
of thinking beings (though each variety is comparable to the real
species of animal martens that inhabit the same world).
I wanted to draw a parallel between them and the humans of Aporue, with
their two subspecies and three to four varieties. Even in terms of
physical height, population numbers, and their natural aptitude towards
certain skills, as well as their attitudes towards technology, they are
all something of a beastman mirror to the humans of the continent. They
are not shorter, or taller,or swifter or burlier, or better fighters or
swimmers or spies than all the other "mustelid" beastpeoples that occur
on the continent (all in smaller numbers than the martenmen). The only
thing they somewhat excel in, even compared to humans, is climbing. This
"average" nature of the martenmen makes them a natural and logical
parallel to humans. And it's with humans they tend to get along the
best, though their "default" and "neutral" tendencies also make them
rather open and amicable to most (if maybe not all) other forms of
beastpeoples, in Aporue and elsewhere.
The martenfolk are also my conscious effort at avoiding beastman clichés
in popular fantasy fiction. There has been a plethora of canine-based
and feline-based fictional species and "races" over the decades. I
didn't want to revisit that territory. I've always had a soft spot for
mustelid predators, since childhood. In terms of evolutionary ancestry,
they're closest to canine carnivores, but besides their canine-like
features, they also have a surprising amount of elements we'd often
associate with feline mammals. When it comes to martens in particular, I
think they combine the ruggedness of a canine animal with the cat-like
gracefulness and swiftness of a cat or another feline creature. In this
sense, I did a compromise that didn't even feel like a compromise, like
something forced: I combined the best of both worlds by choosing martens
as the basis for this humanoid species.
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.
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.
- | - | - | -
Gallery
Concept mockup image of a Melzan "piner" townsman (or townswoman), of the forest martenfolk
Before anyone asks, no, this is not meant as some definitive illustration of any particular character in my Orbis Furum setting. As I note above, this is merely a photoshopped concept study to give you at least a broad idea of what some of the martenmen
townsfolk living in Melza and other towns might look like.
Specifically, the Piners, who have an appearance and colouration very
comparable to that of the pine marten. I'm also preparing similar
studies for the two other varieties, the Stonies and Sablemen, a few
images for each of the three varieties. I'm also preparing similar
concept studies for some of the other species as well.
There could be many, many different variations on clothes, based on the
socio-economic strata of the individual, or whether he or she is an
urban or rural member of the martenfolk. This particular individual,
either a man or a lady (I lean more towards male, though the clothing
could be worn by a female marten-person as well) is meant to be a more
modest citizen of Melza. Working as a marketplace stall vendor, or some
low menial job, with a small flat to live in, rented in some poorer
townthouse or tenement, and not wealthy in any real sense. So, not a
homeless beggar, not poor and destitute, but not a well-off townsman
either. The weather's meant to be on the chilly side in this image, so
the martenfolk local is wearing a warm, practical hood instead of a hat.
This piece of rough concept art is just meant to give me a basic visual
idea for when I make proper sketches of various human and non-human
individuals in various urban and rural environments. I'll confess that I
like sketching things, but I sometimes have issues with combining
several things in my mind and drawing them together. So this image and
several similar images I'm working on are essentially only a visual aid for
my later detailed drawings. Though these concepts are also interesting
on their own, I'm not treating them as some definitive visualization.
Concept mockup of Piner commoners, and another concept mockup, of Stonie commoners
Piner martenfolk commoner man and commoner woman and Stonie martenfolk commoner man and commoner woman.
Martenfolk commoner mockups completed. Both couples in the same set of clothing, just to get an idea of how they'd compare with each other looks-wise. Noblemen will be next.
Original images by Hederea, modified by me. The original images were of central European commoners from the 16th century and their clothing.
I do not claim Hederea's base image or this modified version of it as my own. It's merely a mockup that I'll use as the basis for a hand-drawn (and later maybe coloured) illustration of the characters, to give me an idea of how the individual social classes of these particular Aporuean species appear in public.
Concept mockup image of a Melzan "stonie" man-at-arms, of the montane martenfolk
Stonie martenman man-at-arms. A sallet helmet, a bevor for neck protection, and resting a pollaxe in his left hand during a regular practice break.
No mail armour, as he's wearing his plate harness on padded armour, as part of some warm-up training with newbies.
Hand-drawn concept sketch for the martenfolk, a.k.a. martenmen
.jpg)
Rare example of a decorated helmet for a military full suit of
armour,
used by Stonie (and other martenmen) nobles interested in
fighting
Though the stonies can wear a fair few types of human helmets (such as
the individual martenman in the image), the human helmets tend to be a
more tighter fit in the mouth area. Because of this, the stonies, and
especially the piners, who have an even more prominent jaw and mouth
area of their heads, prefer to wear enclosed and visored helmets
better-tailored to martenfolk head proportions. Here's a fancier visored
helmet designed for the martenfolk.
Concept mockup image of a Sableman hunter with bow and arrow
A rough concept mockup for the northern branch of the martenfolk, and northern cousins of the Piners and Stonies, the Sablemen.
----
If you've read one of the novellas I wrote for the setting (e.g. the
December 2020 one) and wondered what Ravan or many other martenmen and
martenwomen in the stories look like, now you at least have a broad idea
about the head and face of the martenfolk. Of course, just like no two
individual humans are the same, no two individual martenfolk members (or
any of the other fantasy species, for that matter) are the same.
For years, one of my big annoyances with depicting the non-human humanoids of the Orbis Furum setting
has been striking the right balance between avoiding making them seem
"cute" (in an infantile sense) and avoiding making them seem like "just
humans with a few animal traits". Both are extremes that don't really
fit what I'm going for and feel rather "cheap". And let's face it,
martens are animals with (from a human perspective) rather
"cute"-seeming faces and heads. My marten-derived humanoids need to have
a bit more seriousness and grit to their faces (not overdone, of
course). One solution, already back when I was doing the basic profile
sketches for the species, was to focus on getting the head proportions
right, or figuring out the textures and shapes and details of the limbs
and fingers. I'll barely ever need to depict any of the species without
at least torso-covering clothes, so getting the heads, limbs and fingers
right is one of the most crucial things from an artistic and
verisimilitude standpoint.
This is what I've also incorporated into this concept image. If you look
closely, you'll notice that I've "sunk" the depth of the jaw and
mouth/muzzle area, including the mandible and both of the the cheek
areas, a fair bit lower than had I kept the proportions of a typical
pine marten head unchanged. This helps to create an illussion that the
martenfolk member in the image has a more human-proportioned skull. A
real pine marten has a flatter-shaped and more elongated facial and jaw
area of the skull than a human being, so by "humanizing" the head and
face of such a creature to something more human-proportioned, I stay
within the "keep the martenfolk looking like humanoid martens" premise,
but at the same time, making them seem "more human" in a readily
apparent manner, even at a passing glance. It's more of a psychological
trick on a viewer's mind, to keep the character clearly anthropomorphic,
but not lose the more "animalistic", more "alien-to-human-eyes"
appearance I want to retain for the martenfolk.
- | - | - | -
Demonyms
| English terminology | Slovak terminology | Etymology and notes |
|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| Martenfolk | Kunoľud, Kuniľud | The marten-like humanoids of Aporue, some of the most common beastpeoples. |
| Martenman, Martenwoman, Martenmen, Martenwomen | Kuňan, Kuňanka, Kunomuž, Kunožena | The everyday terms for males and females of the martenfolk. |
| Mart, Marts (nickname) | Kuník, Kuňák, Kuniak, Kuníci, Kuniaci | The nicknames for the martenfolk. Incidentally, the English name is based on the Latin name, martes. Kuna is a Slavic term for the animal and the real Croatian currency kuna is named after marten pelts. |
| Piner, Piners (subgroup/"race") Forest martenfolk | Lesokun, Lesokuny Lesný kunoľud | Referring to the pine marten and its Slovak name, kuna lesná ("forest marten"), the animal inspiration behind their appearance. |
| Barkscratchers, Jaundicechests | Kôroškrabi, Hnačkohrude | The derogatory nicknames for the forest martenfolk (piners). |
| Stonie, Stonies (subgroup/"race") Montane martenfolk | Skalník, Skalníci Horský kunoľud | Referring to the beech marten and its Slovak name, kuna skalná ("stone marten"), the animal inspiration behind their appearance. |
| Whitestreaks, Stone-whites | Belopruhí, Skalobelci | The derogatory nicknames for the montane martenfolk (stonies). |
| Sableman, Sabelmen (subgroup/"race") Tundra martenfolk | Soboľec, Soboľci Tundrový kunoľud | Referring to the sable and its Slovak name, soboľ sibírsky ("Siberian sable"), the animal inspiration behind their appearance. Their name is not inspired by the German Säbel ("sabre"), which is an unrelated word. |
| Tarpelts, Snowpaws | Smolkožuchy, Sneholabci | The derogatory nicknames for the tundra martenfolk (sablemen). |
| 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". |
Next time...
Next time, we'll take a look at a species that is more closely related to the martenmen than any other of the Aporuean sapients.
- | - | - | -
Other overviews of the Thick as Thieves sapient species
- Humans (Manfolk) overview
- Newtmen (Newtfolk) overview
- Hedgehogmen (Hedgefolk) overview
- Wolverinemen (Wolverfolk) overview
- Ottermen (Otterfolk) overview
- Stoatmen (Stoatfolk) overview
- Lobstermen and Crabmen (Crustfolk) overview
- Ravenmen (Ravenfolk) overview (apocryphal species)
- | - | - | -
Acknowledgements and additional behind the scenes notes
Concept mockup image of a Melzan "piner" townsman (or townswoman), of the forest martenfolk
Image sources:
- background with internal town gate - photo of the "Polish Gate" in the Old Town of Levoča (severovychod.sk website)
- 15th century style dark overcoat/coat and white-ish warm hood with decorative lower end (agenturahector.sk website)
- photo of a pine marten used as a base, fairly heavily manipulated, especially in the jaws/mouth/cheeks area (alamy.com stock photo website)
Concept mockup of Piner commoners, and another concept mockup, of Stonie commoners
Original images by Hederea, from his ArtStation account, modified by me. The original images were of central European commoners from the 16th century and their clothing.
I do not claim Hederea's base image or this modified version of it as my
own. It's merely a mockup that I'll use as the basis for a hand-drawn
(and later maybe coloured) illustration of the characters, to give me an
idea of how the individual social classes of these particular Aporuean
species appear in public. Only my later illustration will be my own copyright, whereas I consider these mockups to be still within Hederea's copyright and not publishable in any works involving the setting.
Concept mockup image of a Melzan "stonie" man-at-arms of the montane martenfolk
Modified image based on a frame/image of reenactor Aaron Pynenberg in the 2010 documentary film Medieval Fight Book,
about medieval fighting tactics and medieval civilian and military
inventions recorded in the mid-15th century (1459) Fightbook by Hans
Talhoffer. John Clements was one of the guest hosts in that documentary
special, with Pynenberg as his assistant, the two of them demonstrating differing longsword fighting techniques
in a scenario confronting a fully armoured person and an unarmoured
person. You can read more about their experience with the filming of the
docu in this article.
The added pollaxe is a replica by Arma Bohemia.
The overall configuration of his plate armour and use in garrison/siege
defence or on an open battlefield is similar to that of a Lengelian dismounted man-at-arms.
Concept mockup image of a Sableman hunter with bow and arrow
Not entirely complete yet, still needs a few alterations, but almost
there. The reason I will not use this collage for any public release of works in the setting is because I'm using
a base photo that should remain confined to its original project,
and I also want to use the photo only as a starting point for a future
sketch or illustration. I can't quite figure out what a sableman hunter
shooting a bow in ambush would look like, so this is meant to provide at
least a bit of a basic idea. It's sometimes hard to find images of
Ugrofinnic people (Sámi people and archaic Finns included) dressed in
traditional clothing styles of centuries past, posing with traditional
weapons from centuries past. So I'm grateful for any photos that can
provide that basic level of verisimilitude. Notice the fingers of the
character, with short claws instead of human fingernails. These are
genuine sable claws, taken from photos of sable paws, then photoshopped
and slightly edited for the hands.
Copyrights
(C) 2014, 2021 P. Molnár & Knight-Errant Studios - Concepts/ideas, writing, drawn concept art, mockups
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