Ghent

The Ghent are a tall, hardy mountain people, native to the Whalebone Mountains of northwestern Lorgain in Antiquity. They are a people unfond of travel and therefore rarely seen offplane (and those who are are often "Shorn", see below).

Adult Ghent typically stand between six to eight feet tall. Their skin is granite grey with darker grey "freckles" and silver-white hair at all ages. They also posess ram-like horns, though many in the diaspora are "Shorn", exiles from Ghent lands who had their horns ritually removed.

Favoured classes among the Ghent include rangers, barbarians, shamans, witches and stone- or storm-blooded sorcerers.  

Ghent Horns

Ghent horns -- entirely unusual for Meranthic Peoples -- are actually rooted in an ancient curse. The society of the time thought that ram horns represented evil affinities tied to demonic meddling; it is thought a family was cursed with the horns to bring shame or exclusion. Isolated as they are, it is possible the Ghent are a result of this family separating from their home population.  

Notable Ghent

The Ghent warrior and Shorn exile Emeliat Reis became a famous hero fighting the Kelpeater Empire alongside her closest ally, the hedge wizard Merlinkainen. Both would eventually ascend to demigodhood, becoming two of the great Insurgent Gods on the faraway plane of Waking Materia.  

History

The Ghent have a long and storied history, even before their arrival on Materia.  

Antiquity

The Ghent were ancient enemies with the Ula'thau'la or Kelpeater peoples of the Gyre Islands to the east of the Whalebones. When eventually the power of the Ula'thau'la culminated in the Kelpeater Empire under the Reiver King Inum'indiron'aravaut (Ina'ut for short), the Ghent clans either reacted by receding further into the mountains or fighting viciously on the side of the resistance. Very few Shorn ended up amongst the Kelpeater Empire depsite being the closest neighbours, do to their ancient and mutual hatred. As such, most Ghent in the Empire were prisoners of war, and rarely found above the slave or peasant castes. Some of these expatriated Ghent would eventually join Ina'ut's defeated empire in its pilgrimmage to Waking Materia.