The World of Abadonya

A People Beneath the Mountains

Ratfolk communities exist inside the mountain caverns of Keynew, far from the major roads and settlements of the surface. Their warrens occupy natural cave networks, abandoned mining passages, geothermal pockets, and deep chambers linked by narrow tunnels.

Unlike many subterranean peoples, Keynew Ratfolk do not maintain regular trade, diplomatic contact, or cultural exchange with outside settlements. Most warrens actively avoid association with anyone beyond the caverns.

To the average resident of Keynew, Ratfolk are more rumor than neighbor. Surface stories speak of quick shadows in mine tunnels, missing scraps of metal, and strange repairs made to abandoned mechanisms, but few outsiders can truthfully claim to have visited a Ratfolk settlement.

Built for Tight Passages

Ratfolk are small humanoids with rodent-like features, including pointed muzzles, large ears, whiskers, sharp teeth, and long tails.

Their fur varies widely in color, including gray, brown, black, white, rust, and mottled patterns. Mountain warrens often develop family markings or coloration common to a particular cavern community.

Their clothing is compact and practical, designed for squeezing through tunnels and working in confined spaces. Pouches, harnesses, layered cloth, leather wraps, and scavenged pieces of metalwork are common.

The Mountain Is Home

Ratfolk society in Keynew is built around the warren. Food production, sleeping quarters, workshops, storage chambers, hatcheries, water access, and defensive tunnels are all designed to function without dependence on the surface.

Outsiders are rarely invited inside. Many warrens forbid members from bringing surface travelers home at all, regardless of friendship.

This isolation is not simply fear. Ratfolk culture teaches that association with the outside world invites conflict, exploitation, disease, and unwanted attention to places that have survived precisely because they remain hidden.

A Ratfolk who chooses to live among outsiders may be treated as strange, reckless, or even disloyal by more traditional warrens.

The Value of Small Things

Ratfolk are natural tinkerers and collectors. Inside their caverns, broken mechanisms, discarded tools, metal fragments, glass, alchemical scraps, and strange bits of old machinery are rarely thrown away.

The ability to repair or repurpose an object is highly respected. A useless hinge may become part of a trap; a shattered lens may become a tool; a broken magical device may be studied for generations.

Because their communities avoid the surface, Ratfolk rely heavily on reuse. Objects that enter a warren may remain in circulation for decades through repeated repair and modification.

Move Together, Survive Together

Life in narrow tunnels has shaped Ratfolk fighting traditions. They are comfortable working shoulder-to-shoulder in spaces where larger enemies cannot maneuver effectively.

Pairs and small groups train to move around one another without breaking formation, allowing them to overwhelm opponents through coordination rather than brute force.

This same instinct influences work and daily life. Ratfolk are accustomed to crowded spaces, shared tasks, and close physical proximity within the warren.

The Outside Is Not Needed

Ratfolk beliefs in Keynew tend to reinforce ideas of community, secrecy, resourcefulness, and self-reliance.

Some honor Namir through craftsmanship and the careful maintenance of tools and mechanisms. Others respect Trentula through the belief that caverns and underground ecosystems are as much a part of the natural world as forests or rivers.

Ratfolk may follow any alignment or deity. Their isolation is cultural, not a moral restriction.

Standard Pathfinder 1e Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: Ratfolk gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, and –2 Strength.

Type: Ratfolk are humanoids with the ratfolk subtype.

Size: Ratfolk are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty on combat maneuver checks and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.

Base Speed: Ratfolk have a base speed of 20 feet.

Languages: Ratfolk begin play speaking Common. Ratfolk with high Intelligence scores can choose Aklo, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Orc, and Undercommon as bonus languages.

Darkvision: Ratfolk have darkvision 60 feet.

Rodent Empathy: Ratfolk gain a +4 racial bonus on Handle Animal checks made to influence rodents.

Swarming: Up to two Ratfolk can share the same square at the same time. If two Ratfolk sharing the same square attack the same foe, they are considered to be flanking that foe as if they were in two opposite squares.

Tinker: Ratfolk gain a +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy), Perception, and Use Magic Device checks.

Race Points: 9 RP.

These are the Pathfinder 1e racial mechanics used for Ratfolk characters in Abadonya.

A Hidden Population

Keynew is the principal homeland of the Ratfolk, but they are not a visible part of the region's surface population.

Their communities remain within the mountains and deep cavern networks. They do not establish neighborhoods in Golandria, Koin, Mendiville, or other surface settlements, and they do not normally maintain trade houses or public representatives outside the caverns.

A Ratfolk encountered away from the mountains is therefore unusual and likely has a specific reason for leaving the safety of the warren.

For most Keynew residents, the Ratfolk remain a people known through secondhand stories, old mining warnings, and rare encounters beneath the stone.

An Unusual Choice

Ratfolk adventurers are rare because leaving the mountain means stepping outside the social world that defines their people.

Those who do leave may be exiles, scouts, relic-seekers, investigators of threats to the caverns, or individuals whose curiosity overwhelmed generations of tradition.

Alchemists, rogues, investigators, wizards, rangers, and other skill-focused classes suit common Ratfolk talents, though they can pursue any class.

A Ratfolk from Keynew who joins an adventuring party may still avoid surface settlements whenever possible, preferring tunnels, caves, ruins, and underground routes where the world feels familiar.

Return to the Races of Abadonya index to browse other ancestries.