“All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times however, he failed. He was only a man, after all, not a dog.” - Goodman Hector Ambrillo
| Type | Bipedal Mammal |
| Relatives | Lórelyths |
| Pa'che | |
| Dunu | |
| Primates | |
| Distribution | Everywhere |
| Rarity | Fairly Common |
| Height | 4'6" - 6'6" |
| 137-198cM | |
| Lifespan | Half a century and more |
| Diet | Omnivore |
| Oath | Landbound |
“The origin of the heth is unknown. Some people can claim that they were birthed by a great natural event or divine meddling, but there is no unifying creation myth. They are undeniably an ancient race though, perhaps predating even the lórelyth upon Malunan soil.
To confuse matters further, it’s clear that the longmen originate from Maluna and yet there are stories about heth cultures upon distant lands, even entire other planes of existence, which doesn’t make any sense.
Concrete evidence of wherever heth came from was unfortunately one of the many things lost during Moonfall, though many consider this to be the true beginning of their history and do not trouble themselves with what came before.
Regardless of their precise origins, throughmen have been unquestionably successful. While hardly the only intelligent species on Maluna, heth are an eternally fractured and divided people, broken up into over a dozen ethnic offshoots.”
- Bruin Andora, The Unearthed Ambitions of All: True & Honest Accounts
They call themselves Heth, a word so old it has worn smooth, meaning little more than the living ones, or those who remain. It is not grand, poetic, or burdened with expectation, it simply is and that is enough for them.
The Crown calls them Human, though this is less a name and more a declaration. To be human is to be recognised as a person beneath the Pale Dynasty’s authority, a distinction that separates thinking peoples from beasts, monsters and worse besides. The heth are included within this category but they are not alone in it and so the term has never quite belonged to them in the way heth does.
Others call them many things and these names say more about what is seen than what is meant. Longmen, most commonly, for their long stride and the way they will simply keep walking when others would stop. It is a recognition that if a heth begins a journey they are likely to finish it, no matter how long it takes or how poorly it is done.
They are called Throughmen by those who have watched them confront obstacles. The name is not given kindly. Where others would go around or wait or consider whether something should be done at all, the heth go through it. Walls are climbed, doors are broken, depths are descended. It is not always effective nor is it always wise, but it is consistent with these people.
There are those who call them Lastmen and this name carries a different weight. It is given by those who have seen what happens after a thing has gone wrong. When a journey fails, when a battle is lost, when a task proves too much, the heth are often the ones still moving, still trying, still there after sense has long since dictated retreat. It is not always victory that follows but they are present at the end of things more often than not.
These names are not insults, not always, but they are observations, worn into language by repetition. Then there are those who think longer on it, who step back from the individual and begin to see the pattern. Those few use a different name, one spoken quietly and with care.
The Longtide; not because of what a single heth might do but because of what they become over time. Slow, uneven, often chaotic, but persistent.. they spread. One settlement becomes two, two become ten, ten become something else entirely. They do not move as one and yet they move all the same. Like a tide, they advance, recede and return again, reshaping what they touch not through force alone, but through endurance.
The heth are a widespread and contradictory people, defined less by any singular trait and more by a persistent refusal to stop once they have begun something. They can be found across Maluna in nearly every environment, from sprawling cities such as Badarr and settlements like Burv Landing to villages, caravans and remote places that have yet to be named. Wherever there is something to be done, something to be built or something that perhaps should not be attempted at all, the Heth will eventually be found doing it.
They are not the strongest of peoples, nor the most graceful or magically inclined. What the heth possess in abundance is a kind of endurance that borders on unreasonable. Where other species exhaust themselves the heth continue. Where others falter and give up the heth slow, adapt just enough and then continue anyway. They are capable of working, travelling and fighting beyond the point where it would be sensible to stop and often beyond the point where it is safe to continue. This is not discipline nor is it always admirable, it is simply how they are and it is the reason names like Longmen endure.
This tendency has earned them a reputation among other races as creatures who will always do the thing. Where a lórelyth might consider whether an action aligns with the flow of the world or a pa’che might weigh the emotional state of their kin before committing to a course, a heth is far more likely to attempt the act first and consider its meaning afterward. They climb because something can be climbed, they delve because something lies below, they build because something might stand where nothing stood before. Failure does not discourage them in the way it does others. It merely becomes part of the attempt. This is why they are called Throughmen, not because they succeed but because they will always try to push through.
Their societies reflect this same quality. They are rarely unified for long and just as rarely stable in a lasting sense. Divisions in belief, culture and ambition fracture them into countless competing identities, often at odds with one another. Yet when faced with a threat from without, something elemental in the heth changes. They align with startling speed, setting aside differences that moments before seemed insurmountable. They stand together with an intensity that borders on the religious, acting as a single force until the danger has passed. When it has they dissolve again just as quickly, returning to their prior divisions as though nothing had changed.
Despite this tendency toward fragmentation, the heth possess a remarkable ability to exist among others. When living within communities dominated by another race, they begin to align themselves with that people’s rhythms and expectations without conscious effort. Among the lórelyth a heth will find themselves reacting to the needs of the group with surprising instinct. Among the pa’che, they may begin to feel the emotional state of the camp in a way that mirrors orcish sensitivity. This is a sort of cultural absorption, a gradual and often unnoticed reshaping of behaviour through proximity.
That instinct extends beyond people. The heth have an unusual tendency to form attachments to anything they can interpret as having even the faintest suggestion of personality. Animals, certainly, but also constructs, spirits, slimes, tools, landmarks and objects that others would consider inert. If a heth can convince themselves that something responds, however subtly, they are capable of forming a bond with it. This bond does not require reciprocity, nor does it require understanding. It simply requires belief that there is something there to connect to. This tendency unsettles many, amuses others and makes the heth difficult companions to predict or separate from what they have chosen to care about.
Their short lifespan relative to the lórelyth contributes to a sense of urgency that shapes much of their behaviour. The heth do not have the luxury of centuries to consider their actions. They act quickly, often impulsively, driven by the knowledge that their time is limited even if they do not dwell on it. This urgency leads to great achievements, but also to reckless decisions and avoidable loss. It is not uncommon for a heth to commit fully to something that others would abandon, simply because they have already begun. This is why some call them Lastmen, because when things fall apart they are still there, still trying, still moving forward.
Heth societies across Maluna are diverse, shaped by environment and history rather than any unified identity. From the ancient foundations of Badarr to nomadic groups crossing open land, they establish themselves wherever survival is possible. They trade, build, fight and persist, leaving marks upon the world that are often uneven but rarely insignificant.
Citizens of the Pale Dynasty adhere to a ten-day holding period following the declaration of death before the belongings of the deceased are distributed. While resurrection is rare, it is not unheard of, and there exists legal precedent for the return of those thought lost. If an individual returns after this period, their possessions are forfeit. This practice reflects both practicality and a quiet acknowledgement that death, for the heth, is not always final in the way it once was.
Spiritually, the heth lack a unified understanding of what awaits them after death. Where other races possess certainty or tradition, the heth operate on belief. Many have adopted religious structures influenced by contact with other peoples. In recent times, the doctrine of the Nine has become dominant, offering a shared framework that was previously absent. Even so, belief remains varied and deeply personal.
Those who have returned from death consistently report that there is something beyond, though none have been able to describe it in a way that satisfies inquiry. This has not diminished heth faith and if anything it has strengthened it, as their belief rests on trust in what cannot be explained.
The potential for hybridization between the heth and other races has produced a wide range of mixed-lineage individuals. Chayth, pa’jang and others exist as a result of these unions, embodying traits of both parent species. The heth are particularly notable in this regard, as they appear capable of producing viable offspring with a broader range of races than is typical.
This has led to quiet speculation among scholars that, given sufficient time, the heth may come to encompass or absorb other intelligent species through integration rather than conquest. Such ideas are generally dismissed as exaggeration, though not without discomfort. It is here that the name Longtide takes on its fullest meaning, especially when the rest of the heth’s qualities are taken into account.
This is of course simple doom rippling and shouldn’t be taken seriously at all.
They are capable of great compassion and great cruelty, often within the same lifetime. They are driven, persistent and at times reckless to the point of self-destruction. They form bonds easily, break them imperfectly and carry forward regardless of the cost. They are not the most elegant of peoples, nor the most harmonious. They are the ones who do not stop and that, more than anything else, is why they endure.
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