Heroes of the Anvil Vale

Barbarians

• Dwarven Battleragers: Among staunchly ordered and lawful dwarven folk, battle is one of the acceptable outlets for aggression and furious chaos. The tradition of battle-ragers is less known in this era than it was previously, but there are always those few dwarves marked with the traditional tattoos of the Furious Ones. (Preferred Paths: Ancestral Guardian, Battlerager, Zealot)
• The Frostwood Furies: Some of the tribes of elves and shifters within the Frostwood maintain a tradition of furies – warriors who channel their overt fury into strength, all at the defense of their homes. (Preferred Paths: Ancestral Guardian, Berserker, Totem Warrior)
• Giantish Fury: Outside of tribal society, it is not uncommon to find those with the gifts of rage among the firbolg and goliath folk as well. (Preferred Paths: Ancestral Guardian, Berserker, Storm Herald, Zealot)
• Tribal Folk: Though the only tribal folk within any reasonable distances of the Vale are the wood elf clans of the Frostwood, and the oft-nomadic goblinoid tribes that dwell in further reaches of the Starfrost Mountains, both peoples have more than their fair share of those with the gifts of rage. (Preferred Paths: Ancestral Guardian, Battle-Scarred, Berserker, Storm-Herald, Totem Warrior)
• The Touch of the Berserker: Within the Vale, even among the most peaceful and ordered communities, there are those who have been touched by the Berserker, the terrifying creature of primal fury. Some have survived one of its slaughters, and come away with a rage of their own. Others have simply seen it at a distance, or have dreams of it occasionally. (Preferred Paths: Battle-Scarred, Berserker)

Bards

• The Ceòladair: The musical traditions of the dwarves and the humans and halflings who sought sanctuary with them have mixed and blended over the years, creating a tradition of bravado-loving thrill-seekers and storytellers. Percussion and woodwinds feature extensively in these traditions. (Preferred Colleges: Lore, Satire, Swords, Valor)
• The Bards of the Courts: The Sea Lords maintain an ancient tradition of bards as advisors and witnesses, and so their courts are largely open to those who are proven bards. Among the Sea Domains, a long-standing tradition of apprenticeship exists, forcing young bards to remain apprentices until they manage to make names for themselves at their masters' guidance. Bards also become consummate politicians, as well, given the circles they find themselves in. (Preferred Colleges: Fates, Glamour, Lore, Secrets, Theatrics, Whispers)
• Fey Troubadours: In both the Frostwood and Ylistaloré, there are traditions of singer-historians who record the tragedies of the Feywild, and the Twilight of the Elves. They frequently come among the people of the Vale, and more than a few of them have taught apprentices there among these short-lived people. (Preferred Colleges: Fates, Glamour, Great Work, Lore, Secrets, Swords, Threnody, Valor, Whispers)

Clerics

• The Urram Athair: Dwarves do not have gods. Instead, each of the Great Clans has a highly revered founder ancestor, who occasionally choose champions to work their will among dwarrowkind. Each of the Twelve has such a clan founder, and they can grant any Domain. Domains are less about who grants the power and more about what they want their chosen to focus on in dwarven society. (Preferred Domains: Arcana, Death, Forge, Grave, Knowledge, Life, Light, Order, Prophecy, Protection, Trickery, War)
• The Mysteries Pastoral: The main faith of the Valefolk is the Mysteries Pastoral, with its emphasis on agricultural mysteries and support and celebration of the bounty of the land. Clerics of the Mysteries Pastoral are encouraged to enter into the priesthood. (Preferred Domains: Arcana, Death, Grave, Hunt, Life, Nature, Prophecy, Tempest)
• The Church of the Foundations: A small pantheon of deities revered by the Sea Lords and many other human civilizations, the so-called Foundationals do not have any temples in the Vale. It is not uncommon for missionaries to visit the Vale, however, and they sometimes find a welcome among the folk of the Vale's settlements who sometimes feel that the Mysteries Pastoral, with their rural emphasis, are not for them. (Preferred Domains: Arcana, Knowledge, Life, Order, Protection, War)
• The Lucent Cultus: Among the forest-dwelling clans of the Frostwood, there is a small cultus that has always been a small part of those cultures, although it never grows particularly large in any generation. It teaches that life and joy are a light, an illumination which should not only be sought but cultivated and protected. A few of the shifters and elves of the Frostwood are clerics of this cultus. They do not operate as its priests, but instead as its heroes and saints, literally called "lightbearers." The Unicorn of the Frostwood is in some way associated with this cultus. (Preferred Domains: Light [primarily]; Hunt, Life, Nature [occasionally])

Druids

• The Speaker's Own: x
• The Cult of the Grinnir: x
• The Dorchairm: x

Fighters

• Dwarven Soldiers: x
• Vale Soldiers: x
• Sellswords: x
• Swords of the Tower: x
• Just Regular Folk: x

Monks

• Ergennish Ascetics: x
• Lucent Contemplatives: x

Paladins

• The Sgaoileadh: x
• The Thanesworn: x
• The Wildbound: x
• Paladins Errant: x

Rangers

• The Black Shield: x
• Vale Mountaineers: x
• The Cult of Grinnir: x
• Frostwood Wardens: x
• Myriad Guides & Foresters: x

Rogues

• Guilds Agents: x
• The Seventeenth Guild: x
• Various Scoundrels & Shifty Sorts: x

Sorcerers

• The Runeborn: Among dwarvenkind, those born with the power of magic burning in their veins are called "the runeborn." Traditionally, those with such power are offered a position as part of the Guild of Runethanes, and their magical talents harnessed and put to the good of the dwarrowfolk and Valefolk alike. Among Valefolk, the term has come to refer to any natural magicians as well, although assumptions of membership in the Runethanes is far less than if the runeborn is dwarrowfolk. Still, dwarrowfolk or Valefolk, there is no requirement of membership in the Guilds.

Warlocks

• The Tempted: Many who become warlocks do so after being offered magical power they might have dreamt of but never expected to ever wield. Such temptations often come in the form of first servitors and then direct communication in dreams and bouts of fevered madness. Each such instance is as unique as the patron making the offer and the warlock who accepts it. (Preferred Pacts: The Archfey, the Fiend, the Foretold, the Great Old One, the Undying, the Raven Queen, the Shadow)
• Seekers After Forbidden Lore: Other warlocks instead seek after power of their own accord, finding themselves unsuitable for any of the other methods of magic before finally settling on forging an otherworldly pact out of final all-or-nothing desperation. This lore is found in folklore, in ancient texts, and even encoded in fairy tales and nursery rhymes. (Preferred Pacts: Any)
• Various Cults & Conspiracies: Some of the secret organizations hidden in society are dedicated to the goals of one or more ancient, powerful entities. From hidden infernal cults to the "enchanted" (a term for mortals lured into the service of the Archfey) to human orders dedicated to angelic patrons to the cultists who revere the darkness of the Aodach (as the dwarves call the Shadowfell). (Preferred Pacts: Any)

Wizards

• Runethanes: Dwarven wizards who are trained as part of the Guild of Runethanes, one of the Guilds. Though the term once applied only to those who studied the runic arts specifically, "runethane" is now a generalized term among dwarven folk, who are often uncomfortable with the overtly-Imperial connotations of the term "wizard" or "mage." (Preferred Schools: Artificer, Guild Wizardry, Invention, Runethane, Theurgy, War Magic)
• The Imperial Collegia: The Eight Great Collegia of the ancient Empire fell with the rest of its ancient expanses a millenium ago, but their legacy of the formalization of magic still impacts the practice of wizardry to this day. Many human practitioners of magic conceive of wizardry solely in the expression of these eight specializations. In the Vale, the wizard Rumlinn was one such practitioner of this legacy, as are all his apprentices and grandapprentices. (Preferred Schools: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation)
• The Aragûldor: The eladrin of Ylistaloré are said to practice the arts of elven high magic, an ancient art that taps into something ineffable in elves themselves. The exact nature of this magic is largely unknown, although it's certainly not something every elven wizard has access to. Old Imperial Collegia records claim it is a power that only elven archmages past their three hundredth year can truly master. (Preferred Schools: Bladesinging, Divination, Enchantment, Guild Wizardry, Illusion, Invention, Theurgy, War Magic)
• The Drugûldor: In contrast, the elves of the Frostwood are said to teach their own the old "wild magic" arts – the "wild" in this case meaning wizardry in service to the woodlands and its peoples. There are far fewer such "green magi," although it is sometimes easy to mistake them for druids, so similar are their bearings and arts. It is notable that unlike the eladrin Aragûldor, the Frostwood magi do take apprentices of other races, most notably half-elves of their blood and the shifter tribes. (Preferred Schools: Blood Magic, Botany, Conjuration, Illusion, Theurgy)
• Dabblers & Savants: Aside from these groups, it is entirely common for dabblers and savants to rise among the peoples of the Vale. Whether trained by an outlander, a master from one of the other traditions who took pity on a promising but otherwise unfit apprentice, or even simply someone who discovered a spellbook and stumbled their way into the wizard's art by sheer intellect and force of will, these others are not common, but hardly rare. (Preferred Schools: Any)