Visse, a Kindred, for Dungeons & Dragons (5E)

The Empress realized that she needed loyal servants to manage the machinery of the Empire, for an Empire needs a bureaucracy and a bureaucracy needs people.  Then, from an unknown source, came the Visse, within a decade, they staffed the Imperial Bureaucracy from top to bottom, serving at the behest of the Draconic Imperium.

The Visse homeland appeared fully realized in the fields and hills around the capital city of Shel’lioc, though they had not existed before the Sundering, their homes and villages, farms and fields, to all appearances had been there for decades if not centuries.  The Visse had family histories extending back through generations, generations that never existed . . . or did they?

The origin of the Visse has been debated by scholars and philosophers but not, oddly, by the Visse themselves.  The Empress, who must know, has never said anything about whence the Visse came.  And the Visse are secure in their place in the Empire and the Sea of Stars they know that questioning that good fortune will bring no joy.

–The Secrets of the Visse by Unknown

Visse

The Visse, whose name literally means “those who serve” have become the indispensable servants across the Sea of Stars, filling the ranks of bureaucracies from the Imperial to the local, providing servants to the Draconic Houses, including the Imperial house, and generally working hard in whatever task they have set for themselves.

Their homeland is comprised of the villages and farms that surround the Imperial Capital, Shel’lioc, where the majority of the Visse are born and raised and where many eventually retire.  It is a place of bucolic beauty and tight family ties.  The lands are fertile, the weather mild, and the heart of most Visse lie in those green fields that will always be home to them wherever they go.

The Visse are just like most people only smaller and they are perfectly formed for their height.  Their coloration is oddly adaptive, over generations they begin to match the appearance of the majority of the populace that they live with. However, the majority of Visse males lack extensive facial hair, at best managing a mustache.

Visse Traits

Your Visse character has a number of traits in common with all other Visse.

Ability Score Increase. The Visse are nimble and skilled in avoiding the bigger folk. (Taking +2 to Dexterity is common.)

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Age. The Visse childhood and age of maturity map closely to those of human but their lifespan is longer with their middle years, and health, drawing out.  Given a chance to retire to a relaxing life, they can live for a century and a half or even two hundred years.

Alignment. The Visse are very traditional and loyal by nature, they serve because it is their role and something they are very good at.  The perception is that every Visse looks forward to a life in service be it to a state or a household though this is obviously not true of all Visse, it is the stereotype that they accept.  Being part of that continuity is pleasing to most of them, serving their family and a greater purpose both.

Size.  The average Visse man stands about 44 inches tall (112cm), with women only slightly shorter (43 inches / 109cm) and they are perfectly formed for their height. Many Visse tend to plumpness as they have the opportunity to eat well.  Your size is small.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write the Imperial Tongue, along with the Visse dialect of that language.  Many learn additional languages as well, Low Draconic being the most common.

Blaise. When you work around dragons day in and day out, it is hard to be frightened by much, you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Cross a Crowded Room without Spilling a Drop.  You are used to maneuvering through crowds unseen and unnoticed, you can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.

Servant’s Luck. The Visse survive in a highly competitive and dangerous environment, draconic courts, so those that have made it through have a strong tendency to possess a certain amount of luck.  When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die. You must use the new result, even if it is a 1.

Squirarchy

The higher class of the Visse form the network that shapes the lands of the Visse, they make sure the fields are tilled and order is kept, that quotas are filled, and that the schools are run properly.  They consider themselves nobility of a sort, though none have titles.

Ability Score Increase.  The children of a Squirarchy are well-educated and expected to excel academically.  (Taking +1 to Intelligence is common.)

Social Mastery. You have been raised to fit in among the higher classes and know their ways and foibles and know how to recover from your mistakes with grace.  You gain proficiency in Persuasion and when making a Charisma attribute check and roll less than a ten, you may treat it as a ten.  Once you have used this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus you cannot use it again until you have had a long rest.

Well Educated.  You know the history, not only of your family, but everyone they have ever worked for, and where, and so on.  You gain proficiency in History and in a language of your choice.

Urban Dwellers

Increasingly more and more Visse are born and raised in the cities, after all that is where many of the Visse work and live.  Returning back to the green fields of their ancestors to raise children is not always possible, while often children are sent back to the Visse heartland be raised by their aunts and uncles or grandparents in the proper fashion.  But many do not want to send their children away, leading to an increasing number of Visse being raised in cities.

Ability Score Increase.  Those Visse raised in the city tend to be more cosmopolitan and also learn how to play up their perceived cuteness to the larger folk.  (Taking +1 to Charisma is common.)

Knock About Knowledge.  Those who live in the cities gain all sorts of useful skills, you can gain proficiency in one skill or set of tools.

Streetwise.  The Visse know how to maneuver through the narrow ways and byways of the city, slipping among the boxes and crates, you gain proficiency in the Stealth skill.

Yeomanry

Your family is part of the backbone of Visse society, the hardworking farmers whose children are often recruited in domestic service or the lower levels of the bureaucracy.

Ability Score Increase.  Hard-working and dedicated, people often remark on your good health and endurance   (Taking +1 to Constitution is common.)

Humble Worker. Almost since you could walk, you have been working at your family’s farm.  Choose a set of tools, a type of vehicle, or Animal Handling to gain proficiency in.

Hardy Yeoman.  You gain advantage on saving throws against poisons and your hit point maximum increases by one and by an additional one each time you gain a level.

Notes: The Visse are the Halfling analog for the Sea of Stars (their development is discussed here) but even more than generic D&D halfling, they lean into the Britishness of Hobbits and the role of Victorian servants.  Everything about the Visse should evoke a particular kind of proper behavior and knowledge of their place in the social structure.  They are the people who get things done behind the scenes from staffing the Imperial Bureaucracy to cleaning noble houses without them, draconic civilisation grinds to a halt.

Mechanically, wanted to start with three choices for the subcultures, but let me know if you want to see any more especially if you have an idea what you would like to see.

Upper image photo from Verfain of Victorian Servants used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license,  Lower image Halfling soldier by Gel-9 used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported license.