Kinfolk

The Kinfolk came in waves — pirates, sailors, wanderers passing through on their way to richer waters or bloodier plunder. Some stayed to hide, some to start over, others because the sea stranded them here. Over time, the Straits became home for anyone looking to escape, begin anew, or turn seafaring skill into coin — ports and hideouts growing into bustling cities bound by salt and shared hardship. Here, anyone is welcome — so long as they can prove themselves, or pay the price.

Population Centers

• Rooted in the major coastal and island cities scattered through the Straits. They form the beating heart of trade ports, markets, and festivals.

Lifestyle

• Warm, tight-knit, and communal. The Kinfolk greet each other as kin, sister, brother, and watch out for their own with fierce loyalty. Outsiders are welcome—but not yet family. In the Straits, trust is a thing you build through storms, not something handed freely on a calm day.

Cultural Structure

• Deeply community-based and informal. The Kinfolk lean on one another instinctively, with neighbors treated as family and crews acting as chosen bloodlines. Every city and ship thrives on shared effort and shared care—storms are weathered together, and triumphs celebrated as one.

• There are no ballots, no official elections here—leaders simply emerge, recognized as quiet pillars of the community: those who show up, hold steady through chaos, and earn the trust of their kin. They are chosen by respect, not by decree.

Life Expectancy

• Varies widely by heritage—elves and other long-lived races often remain as quiet anchors through generations of bustling human and halfling lives, while orcs, goliaths, and humans burn faster and brighter.

• A human Kinfolk may live to 70–90 in peace; an elf easily sees centuries. In the Straits, life is measured as much in storms survived as in years counted.

Languages

• Irithai Common: The salty, sing-song trade tongue of the ports, spoken by all.

• Aquan: Spoken by many sailors, divers, and those who bargain with the sea itself; it rolls like tides and foam.

• Blackwake: The secretive pirate cant of the Straits, a sharp-edged language of double-meanings, riddles, and misdirection—designed to confuse outsiders and pass orders under watchful eyes. It is said the sea taught it to the first corsairs who learned to listen.