Races of Suikoden

Suikoden has a variety of races: some, like dwarves and elves, are somewhat stereotypical; others, like Ducks and Beavers are not. While they are treated as fourth class citizens in Harmonia, the races in Suikoden add a much desired diversity that adds to any game. The list here serves as a brief introduction to them.

• Kobolds: A race of anthropomorphic dogs, standing generally around the same height as humans. The most populous and accepted of the other races.

• Elves: Elves are often distrustful towards humans, hidden in their forests. Usually hate Dwarves. Rare to see.

• Dwarves: Dwarves are, depending on where you find them, either top-notch miners (but not much else) or the best inventors in the world. The former are friendly, drink-friendly fellows; the later are xenophobic, tricky bastards.
  

• Wingers: Humanoids with large wings, Wingers are typically loners and not liked by many. Can fly though for short periods of time.
  

• Nay-Kobolds: A race of anthropomorphic cats, slightly shorter than Humans. Friendly traders from the Island Nations, though a bit annoying at time.

• Ducks: A race of anthropomorphic ducks about human sized, Ducks are friendly fellows who live in the lakes of the Grasslands.

• Lizardman: A race of anthropomorphic large lizards, Lizardmen are tough warriors, blacksmiths, and hunters. Living in caves in the Grasslands, they are hard to befriend but loyal.

• Beavers: A race of anthropomorphic beavers, only but two or three feet tall, Beavers live in the rivers of the south. Expert woodmakers. Beavers.

• Vampires: Cursed by the Blue Monn Rune, Vampires are cursed to live forever and want to desire the flesh of man. Often charming but vicious. Not to be trifled with.

• Beastmen: People who are stuck with a rune. Some runes make people permanently stuck as a Beastman, like a Werewolf. Others have full control of their rune. Others attach tiger heads on themselves. Suikoden can be strange. Evidence: See Beavers.
  

The Origin of Suikoden

In the beginning, there was "darkness."
Then finally, the "darkness" shed a "tear."
From that "tear," the brothers Sword and Shield were born.

Sword Bragged that he can cut anything. Shield replied that he could protect anything. then the brothers began a legendary battle for seven days and seven nights.

At the end, Sword cut Shield and Shield Smashed Sword.
Sword became the sky, Shield became the earth, and the sparks from the battle became the stars.

And the jewels that adorn Sword and Shield Became the True Runes--'
The runes that all other runes were born from.

This tale tells of how the world of Suikoden was created - and why True Runes are so powerful!

Session 2 Recap: Meandering with Miles

Session 2 (Wednesday 11/16/11)

Our first task to start off the session was leaving the mines, unsure what our shared possession of the Unity Rune might mean but looking forward to finding out. We fought a few groups of hellhounds and other beasts on our way up, and between battles Royce gave up the Illusion cape to Harold, who he thought might make better use of it. Finding the exit did not take long, and by the time we’d reached daylight we were all itching to be rid of the prison all together and get on with our lives. Weapons drawn and bursting with enthusiasm, we all tried to make a break for it but were foiled by a giant net over the dragon and a line of soldiers with weapons that instantly knocked the rest of us unconscious.

Upon awakening in the infirmary in Valas’ care, we found that each of us was now shacked hand and foot for our attempted escape. Nathan and Grant, who had eagerly accepted our suggestion for escaping, were thrown in with us as well. And Vasuki the dragon had been returned to her cage. We hadn’t had long to bemoan our fate before Commander Miles marched in and ordered us to pursue the prisoners who had escaped during the commotion with the monsters. He promised that if we found those runaways and dragged them back, he would remove our shackles. We pointed out quite reasonably that it would be quite impossible for a band of shackled, weaponless inmates to find and capture anyone, so Miles unchained us and let us take Vasuki but kept a lock on the dragon’s wings to keep us from flying off. He also decided to accompany us on our mission to make sure we didn’t get any funny ideas.

And so, for the first time, we found ourselves free (relatively speaking) to rejoin civilization and see what the Harmonian countryside had to offer. Our first stop was the slave camp itself, where we found very little in the way of supplies to purchase (how many sets of Slave Garb does one need, really?). I believe, however, that this was where we purchased our Carrot Seed.

Our next stop was the nearby town of Bellhurst, where we were able to sharpen some of our weapons up to level 3 and purchase some upgraded armor to help in the fights ahead. The only person of note who we met there was Gomez, a man searching for a castle where he might set up a fine storage area. All of the civilians in the streets had one main topic of conversation: the war with Camaro and its queen, Diana, which Harmonia was not faring so well in.

The only other town within reach was Runehurst, where we found the all-important Chicken, Clucky! We also happened to find a woman named Joyce running the local inn, and Harold seduced her most expertly. Somewhere in one of these towns we also acquired 10x Wine for trading, and the Squirrel Plans #2.

Finally, we set to actually tracking down these missing inmates. We had plenty of time during the trip to the mountains to ask Commander Miles about himself, and learned that he ended up heading this remote prison mine because he lost an important weapons shipment and fell into disgrace. He blames a priest-general named Marcus for setting him up, and Harold informs him that the enigmatic Marcus is indeed still at large.

To finish up the session, we began our trek up the mountain path in pursuit of the prisoners, broken up by random encounters and treasure hunting. The next time we meet, we will be endeavoring to find those prisoners at last, at which point we will have to decide how to make our escape while we can.

Investigation! Nathan Jones

Investigation one:

Name: Nathan Jones

Age 29

From: Lindenmill, Harmonia

War Position: Infantry

Bio: Nathan's a tough one to crack. He's been in the Orbel Prison mining camp since he was 11, more than half his life. It's why he knows the guards so well and was made foreman. Still, before that is a mystery. Just why was he in there, anyway?

Investigation two:

I'm still working on Nathan. I've talked to some of the guards though, and found out he has history there. Since he was imprisoned so young, they took pity on him, and raised him as a sort of mascot of the mines. He was even taught swordmenship by his captors! One guard said they owed it to him, or something. I've never heard of a prison camp training it's prisoners, but there's a first for everything, I guess.

Investigation three:

Gah, this case is killing me. I'm still without a clue to his background before he entered the mines. I did find this out though; apparently, he went from being the prison's mascot to an actual prisoner when he was 19, when he helped a woman escape the mines. Nathan didn't even try to escape, and reported the crime himself! The commander at the time couldn't overlook that, and revoked Nathan's privileges and had him sent to the mine proper. Still, being so well known by the guards, he quickly became foreman as you know. The woman's name? I think it was June.

Investigation four:

Pay dirt at last! Ok, listen to this: Apparently, Nathan is from a well to do first class family, see? His mother died in child birth, and his father died a hero's death fighting in Harmonia's army when Nathan was 11. The Harmonian army sent a representative to take the boy into their custody. They were planning to give him a free ride to Soledt Academy and treat him like the son of a war hero like he was. Nathan was even allowed to dine with the Order of God, the five head bishops who rule Harmonia. And get this? In the presence of everybody, from generals to reporters, Nathan spit on the Head Bishop's shoes, calling them murdered and thieves for stealing his father away from him. To make matters worse, he attacked one of them with a kitchen knife. That didn't fly well, as you could imagine. They couldn't kill the boy in front of the reporters, so they quietly made him disappear in the Mines. What a raw deal.

Hikusaak

Hikusaak was the hero who led a group of people in a rebellion against the Kingdom of Aronia 400 years ago in "The Hero War". Being the holder of the True Circle Rune, he has lived ever since as the Harmonian Head of State and High Priest. He has total power over Harmonia, but for the last few decades s/he has not been seen. Civil war broke out in Harmonia in the year 237 because of this, although in the end, the uprising was put down. In his absence the political machinations of Harmonia are handled by bishops and the aristocracy. Some suspect that he is no longer alive. Politics is handled by the Aristocrats after his disappearance.

Hikusaak remains a complete enigma. The above appearance is based on a Drunk Man's guess.

Bio: Sciath and Sun Crystal

Sciath comes from the village of Alma Kinian in the grasslands. In this heavily spiritual community that works with nature, Sciath was a black sheep for her fascination with the strange and unusual, wanting to know more of the outside world instead of her own village. In short, she was bored of the simple village life, and was looking for a change. That change came around the time of the Second Fire Bringer war (suikoden 3) when a traveling Trickster by the name of Belle came to Alma Kinean with her robot pal, Gadget Z.

Sciath was instantly fascinated by the "mechanical monster" and asked a ton of questions of Belle and Gadget, wanting to know all about it. The trio talked for hours, with Sciath eager for knowledge and Belle was happy to be seen as a "teacher" and not just the student everyone thought of her as. during their talk, Belle said something that suck with Sciath: "If you're so bored here, why don't you leave?"

So, that's exactly what Sciath did. She went off with Belle to learn more about tricksters and their way of life, roaming from place to place and learning all about their wonderful machines. The two tried to build Sciath her own machine, but it never game out just right. Eventually, they ran into Belle's mother, Meg. Always happy to tutor a new trickster, Meg sat down with the girls and the three of them built Sun Crystal, Sciath's own automaton pal. Belle and Meg decided to rest from their journeys a while, and have some family bonding time. Sciath, too eager to wait to start her own journey, said goodbye to her tutors, and began to wonder on her own. A true trickster at heart, she has no real destination or goal in mind, other than to see the world and learn all she can of it.

Bio: Royce and Vasuki

Royce comes from the Dragon's den in the Toran Republic. He bonded with his dragon, Vasuki, at an early age, and spent most of his childhood learning to care, raise, and fight with a dragon. It was a big job, as Vasuki is BIG; nearly twice the size of an ordinary dragon, Vasuki stands out as a powerhouse even among dragons. No one knows why Vasuk is so much bigger, whether it was simply a fluke at birth or some secret training Royce gave to the dragon, but the fact remains that this dragon kicks butt.

With such a powerful ally at his side, Royce was tested early on in his career as a dragon knight, and tested often. The pair came through every test with flying colors, with Vasuki being able to overpower any obstacle with brute force. The pair quickly gained a reputation, and began climbing the ranks of dragon knights at a speed not seen in decades. Now a 4th class dragon knight (9th class being an apprentice, and 2nd class being the rank of Dragon Captain with the Dragon Rune; 1st class is nearly always left empty; see the link below for details on dragon knight ranks) there seems to be little stopping Royce and Vasuki from climbing to the top of the knights, with rumors circulating Royce could become Vice Commander or even Captain one day. Only Royce knows of his true goals and ambitions, and it is not immediately clear what brought him to Harmonia in the first place.