Hskan - Goliaths

The Hska: Children of Two Realms To understand the Hska, one must first understand that their history is not one of a single world, but of two. They are a people caught between a waking life they did not choose and a dream they cannot forget. Their quiet nature, their devotion to dwarves, and the deep schism between their two ethnicities all stem from this foundational trauma.  

The First Age: Sanctuary in the Dream

In the ancient days, when the Giant-kin fell under the dark influence of Kurxang and waged war upon themselves and others, the goddess Yemoja looked upon a people known as the Goliaths (the progenitors of the Hska) with pity. Foreseeing their annihilation or eternal enslavement, she used her profound connection to the nascent Dream Realm—a realm she had helped weave into existence—and granted them passage to Alfalon, the Realm of Dreams.   For millennia, the Hska lived in this world of endless possibility. Time flowed differently there; centuries in Glosmordin were but generations in the dream. It was here that their nature fundamentally changed. Communication became a thing of thought and shared vision, not mere sound. Their connection to the divine was direct, woven into the very fabric of their existence through the Children of Yemoja: Tirris, Torrun, and Fain. They lived as peaceful dreamers, their culture and spirits intertwined with the ethereal tapestry.  

The Second Age: The Betrayal and Enslavement

This golden age ended in betrayal. The dark god Kurxang, ever envious and spiteful, discovered Yemoja's sanctuary. He could not enter Alfalon himself, so he devised a cruel trick. He whispered to Yemoja's own children—Tirris, Torrun, and Fain—posing as a concerned voice. He convinced them that by hiding the Hska, Yemoja was stifling their potential and denying them their true destiny in the material world.   Deceived, the divine children guided the Hska back to Glosmordin. But the world they returned to was not the one they had left. It was harder, crueler, and dominated by the Giants who had only grown more powerful and tyrannical in their absence. The Hska, a people of dream and thought, were utterly unprepared for the brutal reality of the Giant's chains. They were enslaved for generations, their strength and size making them formidable soldiers and laborers in the armies of their oppressors. This period is a deep, silent wound in the Hska psyche, a time they refuse to speak of, for its memory is one of unparalleled pain and the loss of paradise.  

The Third Age: Liberation and the Debt to Stone

Their salvation came from an unexpected source: the dwarves. The legends say that the children of Vangur—the stout, resilient dwarves who themselves had hidden from Kurxang's wrath—saw the plight of the Hska not as a distant tragedy, but as a shared injustice. In a great campaign (whether through mighty deeds of arms or cunning subterfuge, the tales vary), the dwarves broke the chains of the Hska and led them to freedom.   This act created an unbreakable bond. To the Hska, the dwarves are Kharana-Vask—"the Unshacklers." A dwarf need only ask, and a Hska will move mountains to fulfill their request. It is a debt etched into their very souls, a tangible memory of their deliverance from darkness.  

The Fourth Age: Protectors and Pragmatists

Once free and established in the Hskan Slopes, the Hska faced a new challenge: how to survive in a world that had only known them as slaves. They turned their innate strengths—family loyalty, resilience, and a deep understanding of hardship—into tools for building a new life. They became master traders, their family caravans becoming the lifeblood of the southern mountains.   Their most defining act in this new age was not for profit, but for principle. When the transformed Taurathi were born from catastrophe and then driven into exile by the fearful humans of Rosewind, it was the Hska who intervened. Where humans saw monsters, the Hska saw a mirror of their own past: a people, unjustly persecuted, strong yet vulnerable. The memory of their own chains was too fresh to ignore. They opened their mountain valleys to the Taurathi, providing a safe haven and cementing their role as compassionate pragmatists and crucial diplomats in the region. This act forged a powerful bond with the Taurathi and demonstrated to the emerging powers of Veropia that the Hska were to be respected as mediators and allies.  

The Great Schism: Koshkmar and Yeraskmar

Once free, the Hska were faced with a terrible question: how does a dreamer live in a waking world? Their answer fractured their people.   The Yeraskmar (Daydream): For the Yeras, the Dream Realm was, and always will be, their true home. This world is the illusion; a fleeting shadow before they return to the eternal dream. They nurture their innate psionic abilities, seeing them as a sacred remnant of their heritage. Their Shamans are revered as guides, those who can still walk the threads of fate and communicate with the divine dream-weavers. They pity their cousins, believing they have lost their way in embracing a world that was once their prison.   The Koshkmar (Nightmare): To the Koshkmar, the Dream Realm was the cause of their downfall. It made them soft, vulnerable, and led to their enslavement. They see dependence on dreams as a weakness. They consciously reject their psionic nature, focusing instead on the tangible, material world—craft, trade, family, and building a new life in Glosmordin. They view the Yeras as clinging to a dangerous fantasy, one that could lead them all to ruin again.  

Society Today

Today, the Hska have no central government. They are a people of family units and trade caravans, forever cautious of large powers that could once again enslave them. Their main cities in the Hskan Slopes—Harrak, Irakanut, Nyut'akon—are less capitals and more large, permanent gathering points for their nomadic families. A semi-federation of merchant families manages trade and interaction with the Veropian Empire, but true authority always rests with the head of each family.   They are a race of contrasts: talkative and open with trusted friends, yet silent and reserved amongst their own kind, communicating in a private telepathic network. They are innate pacifists who carry the scars of being forced warriors. They are a people born of a divine dream, trying to find their way in a material world, forever grateful to the dwarves who gave them a chance to be free. To meet a Hska is to meet a living piece of history, a child of two realms, still deciding which one truly holds their future.