Uruk

Uruk Tribe
Plural	Uruks
Modifiers	+2 Constitution
Special Abilities	Unpredictable, Insidious
Disadvantage	Fatalistic
Homeland	The Cradle of the World
Language	Uruk Names

The Uruk are black-haired and often broad across the shoulders, with a full range of heights. Their eyes are brown and their complexion dark, with a small range of tribal variation in appearance and culture. They can range from fine-featured and near fair skinned, to swarthy and heavy-featured. Men favor facial hair, often oiling their beards, and women traditionally wear their hair long and straight. Women (and sometimes men) ornament their eyes with kohl, and most Uruk wear richly ornamented clothing and anoint themselves with perfumes or scented oils when possible.

Culture: The Uruk are essentially a tribal people, with the tribal unit based on an extended family and hereditary allies, led by chiefs loosely united under a powerful Shah. They are a proud people, and somewhat xenophobic, with a strong distrust of those outside their culture. Uruk have a great appreciation of life and its pleasures, seeing it as a temporary gift that might be taken away at any moment. This fatalism fuels their art, with rich ornamentation adorning virtually all crafted items, and at the same time, they will readily give their lives in combat for honor or in defense of their faith.

Over time, the Uruk culture has separated into two distinct subcultures - the Mountain Uruk tribes of the north, and the Meadow Uruk tribes of the south.

Southern Uruk
Long entrenched in the hilly region of the upper Tiagri, the northern Uruk tribes have experienced a thousand years of constant warfare with the Brule of the Nammati Steppe. This has turned their army, with its chariots, mounted cavalry, and sophisticated siege engines, into an irresistible force. Additionally, they are known for their efficient administration and collection of tribute through provincial governors. Unfortunately, they are also renowned for their systematic terrorization of conquered peoples. As their armies fight to expand the northern borders, the Brule or the Stygian peoples have learned to expect no mercy from victorious southern tribesmen.

Because their homeland is rocky and unsuitable for agriculture, the northern Uruk were forced to turn to the sea for a living, and have become the most skillful shipbuilders, navigators, and merchants in the known world. They sell rich treasures from many foreign lands, as well as the famed cloaks of Tyranian purple, a color so costly that only kings and wealthy nobles can afford it.

Southern Uruk
The Meadow Uruk tribes are considered more civilized and sophisticated than their southern cousins. Their empire is ancient, and their traditions are complex. The northern tribes have produced great works of literature, architecture and sculpture

The southern Uruks are separated politically into a series of small city-states, each paying lip service to the Shah of Elam, the federal capital. They are masters of diplomacy and manipulation, and play a complex game of vassalage, political intermarriages, palace intrigues, and assassinations. Such internal conflict prevents them from dominating their western neighbors.

Religion: Many northern Uruk have adopted the worship of Asur and follow its strictures. However, their culture has flavored their worship of this faith, and their innate fatalism steers them from attempting to divine the future. As a result, Uruk scholars and mystics rarely use divinatory magic styles, and those schools are not taught to worshippers or priests.

The southern tribes tend to keep to the old ways, worshipping Shushinak and Nhakhramat. Additionally, they are not bound by the restrictions of northerners, and teach divination and fortune-telling to their priests. Although southern Uruk