Overview
Mole Men are the blind kin of the deep. They are the tunnel-sculptors of the river plain, they carry the map in memory, and they consider the tunnel a promise the deep keeps for them.
Habitat
Mole-men live in the deep — their home is The Deepdelve, a vast tunnel network under the river plain, its chambers clean and its map kept in memory. They need three things: a ground that is soft enough to dig, a river that is close enough to reach, and a tunnel that is clean enough to walk. They are settled in the delves, with digging-lines in the deep; a mole-man who has not dug a new tunnel in a season is called "the one who forgot the map."
Appearance
A mole-man silhouette is the broad, low, dense shape with the shovel hands — thick-limbed, low-slung, with the head that sits a little too low on the body, like a word that is waiting to be spoken, and the hands that are a separate sentence from the body. Males stand 1.22 m to 1.37 m, 54 kg–73 kg, broad-chested and low-slung, with shovel hands and a thick brown coat; females 1.22 m, 50 kg–68 kg, thinner and quicker, with a longer memory and a lower voice. Skin is a deep, warm umber to a soft, muddy brown, with a faint, almost imperceptible warmth to the cheekbones and a network of fine, pale veins at the temples that show when a mole-man is roused. The fur is the crown: a thick, coarse coat in a range from deep brown to a true, quiet black, rough and dense, with the fur-tips a clean, deliberate bone-white that is the mole line's most persistent claim, and the fur is the mole-man's most persistent identifier at any distance. The eyes are the tell: a pair of small, sealed eyes, in a range from pale amber to a true, quiet white, with a slow, deliberate blink and a depth that makes them look like they are looking at something behind the person they are talking to — and in most cases, they are, and what they are looking at is the map, and the map is the point. The nose is the crown: a single, large, wet nose, in a range from deep umber to a true, quiet black, with the nose-tips a clean, deliberate bone-white that is the mole line's most persistent claim, and the nose is always wet, and the wetting is the point. The hands are the crown: a pair of true, broad, shovel-shaped hands, in a range from deep umber to a true, quiet black, with the claw-tips a clean, deliberate bone-white that is the mole line's most persistent claim, and the hands are always clean, and the cleaning is the point. The head is the tell: the hand is the mole-man, not the face — a pair of true, broad, shovel-shaped hands, and the hand is the mole-man's most persistent identifier. Males carry the mole line in the jaw and the shoulders; females in the neck and the hands. Elders are marked by a full silver-grey fur and a back that has stopped trying to be straight — an old mole-man moves with a slow, deliberate economy, like a tunnel that has decided to stay. Everyday wear: a simple, clean tunic in a muted umber or soft brown, a thin leather belt, and no boots, because a mole-man does not announce their arrival and does not touch the ground more than they have to.
Behavior
Disposition: solitary, territorial, patient, clannish. In peace, mole-men are quiet, watchful, and absolutely incapable of being rushed — they have the deep, and they let you know it. In war they do not fight; they dig. Strangers are either a meal or a mistake, and the mistake is the one the map remembers. The social unit is the delve, 20–60 strong, led by the Map-Keeper, rank decided by the dig — whose tunnel is cleanest. Two signature quirks: a mole-man who is being lied to will not call it out — they will simply ask a follow-up question that the liar cannot answer, and let the silence do the work. And they keep their map for a lifetime, and they remember who broke it, and the remembering is a form of patience that mortal races find unsettling.
Warfare & Markings
Tactics: tunnel-ambush — the mole-man does not fight in the open; they fight in the deep, where the tunnel is the ground. Armor: none, by choice — a mole-man who wears armor has already decided the fur is not enough. Weapons: the short pick, the shovel hand that is not a weapon but is used like one, and the collapse that is not a weapon but is used like one. War markings: the Tunnel-Notch, a single, deliberate chip in the left claw for every tunnel survived, worn as a record of the long dig; the Delve-Knot, a single knot in the braid worn over the right shoulder for every delve oath kept, in deep brown; and the Map-Brand, a small, deliberate mark on the inner wrist — the first tunnel the wearer ever dug, worn as a mark of the beginning. Post-battle: the dead are carried back, their names spoken in the tunnel, and their picks laid across the threshold — a mole-man buried without their pick is buried as a stranger.
Magic Alignment
Primary domain: stone-craft — mole-man magic is the tunnel, the patient, precise holding of the map across the delve. Secondaries: divination and oath. Named inborns: Echolocation (a mole-man can map the dark the way a sailor maps the sea, and the mapping is not a choice), Tunnel-Sense (a mole-man can feel the tunnel's mood the way a sailor feels the wind), Shovel-Hand (a mole-man can dig through stone the way a human digs through soil, and the digging is not a choice). Signature power: the Deep Word — a mole-man can speak a word in the mole tongue and let it land across a lifetime, and the word will keep the tunnel's faith. Limitation: mole-man magic is spent on the tunnel; a mole-man who has spent their deep word must sit still for one day, and the day is the worst one of the delve.
Religion
Mole-men keep Urka, the Stone Mother as their primary god — the stone, the forge, the craft that is the tunnel's own law. The tunnel is Urka's, and the mole-man is the tunnel's sculptor. Omnath, the Last Memory is honored at the map-rites; the record is Omnath's, and the mole-man is the record's map. Priestly class: the Map-Keeper, who keeps the delve-temple and speaks the deep word at every rite. Heresy is not blasphemy — it is a word broken in the tunnel, and there is no rite for that one; the delve simply stops remembering the breaker.
Society
Delves of 20–60, led by the Map-Keeper, rank decided by the dig — whose tunnel is cleanest. Outsiders are either a meal or a mistake, and the mistake is the one the map remembers.
Home
They live in The Deepdelve, a vast tunnel network under the river plain, its chambers clean and its map kept in memory.
Relations
The "the tunnel is a promise" faction — deep neighbors whose map is a price, and the ones whose nod is the direction. The Dwarf clans of the delves are the oldest neighbors the deep keeps — the dwarf keeps the forge and the mole-man keeps the tunnel, and the two are the same stone seen from two crafts, so the delves trade the tunnel-work for the air-keeping, and the trading is the whole of the distance. The Kobolds of the warrens are the small neighbors the map tolerates — the kobold keeps the burrow and the mole-man keeps the tunnel, and the two have learned that a burrow that is not dug is a burrow that is not a promise, and the not-digging is the whole of the peace. The Goblin bands of the upper ground are the ones the map remembers as a mistake — the goblin digs the way the mole-man digs, and the goblin's digging is the one the map will not forgive, because the goblin's tunnel is a tunnel that is not a promise. The Human kingdoms of the ground have sent their engineers down, and the sending is the whole of the warning, because the engineer who has dug a tunnel that is not in the map is the engineer the delve has already decided is a meal. Above, the ground-folk of The Forgotten are the ones the map tests most often, and the testing is the whole of the bond, because the forgotten are the ones the deep keeps the tunnel for, and the keeping is the whole of the record. Uaellaen keeps a page of the deep in the wiki — the map-rites, the deep word, the hand that is the tunnel — and the keeping is the whole of the record, because the camp has learned that a mole-man who has been written about is a mole-man who has been walked with, and the walking-with is the whole of the welcome.
In the Story
In the current story, the mole-men are the promise under the plain — the deep Uaellaen writes about when the tunnel is the law. The Forgotten dig at the Map-Keeper's nod, and the nod has held for two seasons. This season a tunnel was found in the deep that is not in any map — a tunnel that the Map-Keeper does not remember, and the not-remembering is the whole of the warning, because the deep keeps its map, and the map has started to dig. The tunnel is the one the camp has not been shown, and the showing is the hand, and the hand is the whole of the story.
You stand in our tunnel and you make a sound. Good. Now we know where you are, and you have made our map's choice for us. The price is a secret. You have one to give, or you are already lost. — Map-Keeper Bora the Brown