Racán

Where the Bocans take without malice, as unremarkable to them as breathing, the Racán take with a flair that borders on performance—raccoon-like humanoids whose reputation for mischief precedes them into every settlement they pass through, and whose talents, the tome must admit, generally justify that reputation in full. They stand shorter than most races, rarely exceeding four and a half feet, with compact, dexterous builds, ringed and banded tails held high for balance, and the unmistakable dark mask of fur across the eyes that gives them an expression of perpetual, knowing amusement whether or not one is actually warranted. Their fur runs in greys, browns, and blacks, banded and patterned in ways no two Racán quite share, and their hands—small, black-fingered, and extraordinarily nimble—are, by wide consensus, the most skillful of any race in Dúnamhar at manipulating locks, latches, knots, and anything else built with the confidence that it cannot be opened by uninvited fingers.

Mischief as Craft

The tome must draw a careful distinction here, one the Racán themselves insist upon whenever the comparison to Bocans arises, as it often does: where Bocan thievery is described by the Bocans themselves as simple nature, unremarkable and largely unplanned, Racán mischief is deliberate, considered, and—the Racán would say—an art form unfairly maligned by races too dull to appreciate it. A Racán does not merely take a thing; a Racán takes a thing in a manner calculated to be discovered eventually, and admired, however grudgingly, once the method becomes clear. Elaborate locks picked and relocked with a taunting note left behind, prized possessions relocated to increasingly improbable places rather than simply stolen outright, entire evenings spent orchestrating a prank whose punchline may not land for days—this is, to the Racán mind, the whole point.

This same cleverness serves the Racán well beyond mischief alone. They are gifted problem-solvers, natural improvisers, and surprisingly capable negotiators, able to talk their way through a situation with the same nimble confidence their fingers bring to a stubborn lock. Racán intelligence runs consistently sharp across the race, less narrowly focused than the Bocans' quick, practical wit, and more inclined toward genuine cleverness for its own sake—a Racán is as likely to solve a problem for the sheer satisfaction of a clever solution as for any reward the solving might bring.

Society of the Troupe

Racán gather in loose, high-spirited groups the tome has taken to calling troupes, following the Racán's own theatrical bent, ranging from a handful of individuals to several dozen, bound together less by blood or strict loyalty than by shared taste for company, mischief, and mutual entertainment. A troupe's membership shifts often and without much ceremony, as individual Racán drift toward whichever gathering currently offers the most interesting company or the richest opportunity for cleverness, and rejoin old troupes or form new ones with equal ease.

Leadership within a troupe, such as it is, tends to fall—informally, and usually temporarily—to whichever Racán has most recently pulled off something sufficiently impressive to earn the troupe's collective admiration, a status the tome notes bears some resemblance to Ogre leadership-by-competence, though considerably more good-natured and far less likely to matter within a season's time. Racán troupes maintain surprisingly firm boundaries despite their loose structure: mischief played on troupe-mates is expected and even encouraged, provided it causes no lasting harm, but mischief that draws serious danger down upon the troupe—rather than simple embarrassment or inconvenience—is treated with genuine and lasting disapproval.

Relations with Other Races

Human and elven settlements near Racán territory have, over time, developed a wary fondness for their small neighbors that other races find difficult to understand—the Racán's mischief, while genuinely troublesome, rarely rises to real harm, and is often executed with enough evident skill and good humor that even its victims sometimes find themselves laughing before they finish complaining. This has not stopped more than one furious merchant from posting a bounty on a particularly bold Racán troupe, bounties the Racán themselves treat less as a threat and more as a kind of scorekeeping, to be avoided cleverly rather than taken as genuine cause for reform.

The relationship between Racán and Bocan communities, where their territories overlap, is a source of persistent and largely good-natured rivalry—two peoples with overlapping reputations and sharply differing philosophies about what that reputation ought to mean, each regarding the other as doing thievery badly, if for entirely opposite reasons. Genuine conflict between the two is rare; genuine cooperation, when a scheme proves too large for either people alone, is rarer still, but the tome has recorded at least a few instances of joint Racán-Bocan enterprises ambitious enough that the resulting stories are, by now, told across half of Dúnamhar in some form or another.

Racán Subgroups by Territory

Streamwatch Racán (rivers and waterways near Glenmaura) The most commonly encountered troupe-clusters, favoring territory along the Mauraborne and its tributaries, the Streamwatch have the most regular contact with human settlements and the correspondingly richest catalogue of pranks and schemes played upon river traders and dockside merchants.

Hollowbark Racán (Coill-Spine forest edges) Slightly larger and more heavily banded than other Racán, the Hollowbark favor forest territory bordering both human and Athàn-Garrow lands, and have developed a curious, mutually amused relationship with the elves—the Athàn-Garrow's patience proving an irresistible target for Racán mischief, and the Racán's cleverness apparently entertaining enough that the elves rarely retaliate with any real severity.

Duskraider Racán (southern borderlands, near Duskmere territory) The boldest and most far-ranging of the troupe-clusters, willing to travel considerable distances alongside caravans and trade routes in search of fresh opportunity, the Duskraider are the subgroup most likely to be encountered far from any fixed Racán territory at all.

Cinderveil Racán (Wyrm-Tooth foothills, near Ashgorge Juton and Ashmarsh Ogre territory) The rarest and most cautious of the subgroups, having settled dangerously close to some of Dúnamhar's more volatile neighbors, the Cinderveil have tempered the usual Racán boldness with real discretion, having learned early and painfully that an Ashgorge Juton's sense of humor does not remotely match their own.

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• BITE: Racán fangs cause Str+d4 damage and may be used against grappled foes.
• CLAWS: The Racán claws cause Str+d4 damage and add +2 to Athletics (Climbing) rolls.
• LOW LIGHT VISION: Racán ignore penalties for Dim or Dark Illumination.
• SCAVENGER: Racán obsessively collect items wherever they go, carrying them on their bodies and in their burrows. They have the Scavenger Edge.
• SIZE −1: Racán are about four feet tall, reducing their Size (and therefore Toughness) by 1.
• LUCK: Racán draw one additional Benny per game session.
• REDUCED PACE: Decrease the character’s Pace by 1 and their running die one die type.