Geradnali (Men of Hair)
A barbarian race for Epiphany

21-August-1996
©Darryl Adams (dtadams@ar.com.au)

Based on Epiphany(tm) by Greg Porter
This article is released under the BTRC copyright agreement in 
Epiphany. No part of this may be sold or transmitted for profit.

From the journal of SerHilest of Jun-dol.

I was a month from Nursatoquoq, my supplies nearly exhausted. In 
my youthful naivety I felt that I could gain glory and wealth in the 
Hollow Earth. My, how brash I was!

I stumbled into a rude camp by accident, for it was the time that the  
inner sun's light is  blocked by the inner moon. At first, I thought it 
was a barbarians camp, when fearsom (sic)  growls erupted around 
me. In a blind panic, I ran, promptly colliding into a tree (I was not 
having a good day).

I awoke. It was now light again, and I found myself back in the camp. 
There around me was about a score of the most hairiest men I have 
ever seen! I attempted to rise, and collapsed again, as it seems that 
I broke my leg in my unseemly haste. I asked one of the hairy ones 
for some water. I did not seem to understand me! I asked again, no   
response! So I made gestures of drinking with my hands, again no 
response. In the end, I gave up, and spying what seemed to be a pond, 
crawled over to it. drinking what   must have been the most rancid 
water imaginable, but I was beyond caring. 

I stayed with the hairy ones for about 2 moons, while my leg healed. 
In all honesty, I can not believe that a race like them could exist! 
They where not human, despite first impressions, for their heads 
where smaller than a man (a contains less of a brain, no doubt on 
this!), with a flat jawline and deep set eyes protected by their 
location, recessed in the head protected by the forehead, which 
overhangs. Their height is less than a normal man, with the she of 
their race growing to about the height of my shoulders, with the 
males growing a couple of inches higher. The hair, which I named   
the race after, covered the whole body, including their heads. This 
was fortunate as the concept of clothing obviously escaped them.  

It was their behavior that amazed the most. Firstly they had no 
language to speak of. Secondly, even the concept of gestures, which 
even the most idiotic barbarian can use when trying to communicate 
to a civilsed person , escapes them. I did manage to get one or two of 
them to learn a few words (they learn very much like a small child,   
needing constant repetition of simple ideas), but for the life of me , 
i could not get them to associate the words with items. They could 
learn the word "water", but the small   brains these hairy one had 
could not point out water to me, instead pointing wildly and yelling 
"WATER!".

Their own social skills where atrocious. I saw a new mother ignore 
her child's cries for food, which forced another she, (whom I 
assumed to be a village matron) to grab the child and forcibly place 
on the mother's teat. This happened so often, and it was not until 
near the time I left the camp that the mother actually caught on to 
the idea that feeding the child was a good idea.

When I was almost healed, I left the camp. Thankfully the hairy ones 
did not chase me.  For all I know, they did not even know I was among 
them at all, and I doubt that they   remember anything I tried to 
teach them.

If any persons read this journal and come across the hairy ones, 
ignore them. They would make bad slaves, and the effort needed to 
train them to any sort of military power is silliness beyond 
measure.  
<end journal entry>

The Geradnali are in fact Neanderthal Man. Given that the Hollow 
Earth would (IMHO) contain lost areas full of dinosaurs and other 
historical creatures (as well as mystical), surely the Neanderthal 
survived there as well.

What is the point of the Geradnali? They are, put simply, a race that 
can not associate symbols. The concept of languages, words to 
represent things, is beyond them. As well the concept of past and 
future would be meaningless to them. They can learn, but only like a 
parrot, by rote and by constant stimuli. Basic survival traits will be 
drilled in by their elders from an early age (that is, eating, hunting, 
hiding). Those who fail, die. Those who survive teach the next 
generation the same way they learned. 

Things we consider natural: happiness, sadness, terror, hatred, could 
not be conceptulised by the Geradnali. They would mourn the passing 
of a clan mate, but will then continue, almost as if forgetting the 
recently deceased member. They can fight, but only the exceptional 
one would even consider using more than their claws (more than 
likely they have learnt the hard way the power of weapons, but they 
could not create anything more than a simple club.

To generate a Geradnali, use only Physical Attributes, of which they 
get 2. Choose 2 Abilities that would seem appropriate (good 
examples would be Running, or Hunting). They all have an extra free 
Ability to use in defense, but are limited to 3 Abilities for offense.