Sapients of Aporue: Hedgefolk

The hedgefolk are playable in the Thick as Thieves tabletop RPG. Your player character can be a member of the hedgefolk and the same is true for NPCs.

 

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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Author's note

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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Gallery

My hand-drawn concept sketch for the hedgefolk, a.k.a. hedgehogmen
- they are certainly more on the "cute" side, but still fairly weird

Another of my hand-drawn concepts for the "hedgers"

Yes, this hedgehogman is wearing 16th/17th century style shoes, britches, woolen hose and a comfy coat, one foot on a wooden log, and holding a wheellock musket propped against the ground with its stock... Notice the modified nature of the coat, with the back spines sticking out. I'm not sure the note I left there is accurate, I probably meant he is thinner in the waist area, because the coat is longer and covers part of his waist and upper trousers. The trousers are baggy, so it might seem his waist is lower-set than it really is. Granted, I'm no great artist.

Rare example of a decorated helmet for a military full suit of armour,
used by the relatively few hedgefolk noblemen interested in fighting

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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.
Hedgefolk	Ježoľud	The hedgehog-like humanoids of Aporue and other continents, a common species of beastpeoples, one of the most widespread.
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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Final thoughts

I felt that it would be the most appropriate to start the overview of the "furred" beastmen of the Aporue continent with the cutest species.

As you can read from my description, though the hedgehogmen are more of an endearing species appearance-wise, they are as complex as any other and far from being relegated to being the comic relief or "nerdy" roles within the setting.


Next time...

Next time, we take a look at a species that is a bit grittier and closer to humans, while still being very non-human.

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Other overviews of the Thick as Thieves sapient species
- Humans (Manfolk) overview
- Newtmen (Newtfolk) overview
- Martenmen (Martenfolk) overview
- Wolverinemen (Wolverfolk) overview
- Ottermen (Otterfolk) overview
- Stoatmen (Stoatfolk) overview
- Lobstermen and Crabmen (Crustfolk) overview
- Ravenmen (Ravenfolk) overview (apocryphal species)

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Copyrights

(C) 2014, 2021 P. Molnár & Knight-Errant Studios - Concepts/ideas, writing, drawn concept art, mockups