Known for being standoffish and withdrawn, the maenad are a coastal people with a deep love of the sea, and a great indifference for almost everything else. They greet visitors warily, making them welcome but generally keeping them at arm’s length. While excellent ship builders and sailors, they rarely adopt new technology, using crafting techniques requiring twice as much work for similar results. Their farming and fishing methods require more work for less yield. They claim to prefer the simple life, focused on an honest day’s work and a dutiful family life to give them happiness.

The maenad have adopted this lifestyle as a coping tool against severe emotional turmoil. While outwardly stoic, maenad are born with raging emotions that threaten to tear them apart from the inside unless controlled. Hard, exhausting work leaves them little time and less energy to feed the rage that builds within them. Every child is taught to control these emotions to an extreme degree, only releasing them in a controlled environment. This is traditionally done on lone fishing trips, though sometimes a maenad struck by cabin fever will brave fierce storms to vent their rage. (This practice of screaming into the storm has led to many coastal ghost stories, which the humble maenad quietly dismiss as foolish superstition.)

Through hard work and quiet living the maenad have formed a tenuous balance within themselves. Unfortunately, not all are capable of living this life. Some maenad reject the simplicity of their traditions, and seek other ways of living.

Tekmodi:
The worst of the worst of maenad society almost inevitably turn to piracy. By giving voice to their rage, they become powerful warriors capable of the most horrible atrocities imaginable. Few would ever suspect these raging sea demons are of common stock with the stoic and traditionalist maenad, and the tekmodi aren’t keen on sharing their origins lest they disrupt the mystique they try to weave around their supernatural capabilities. They are far more likely to claim they are orphans of the sea than to claim to come from some backwards fishing village.

Classes:
Barbarian: A favourite of tekmodi and wandering exiles, maenad barbarians can channel their rage into the stuff of legends. Their rage is so natural and overpowering that even the most lawful minded maenad may become a barbarian should they wish.

Cryptic: Some maenad become obsessed with the puzzle of their rage. Where did it come from? Why does it afflict them? By probing at these mysteries, maenad cryptics hope to discover how to free themselves of the rage, or perhaps how to drive it higher.

Fighter: Some maenad become wandering mercenaries, eager to sell their swords to the highest bidder, using their rage to give them an extra edge in battle. Tekmodi in particular tend to become Corsairs, mastering shipboard combat.

Psychic Warrior: Some maenad explore their psionic talent in combination with their martial skill, becoming deadly warriors capable of transforming into beastly monsters to rend their foes into pieces.

Wilder: Sometimes, a rage unlocks power within a maenad. Maenad wilders use their rage in conjunction with wild surges, unleashing their immense emotional trauma in the form of elemental bursts and psychic shockwaves.

Alchemist: Rarely, a maenad will train in the secrets of alchemy. These individuals will inject themselves with potent toxins in the hopes of curing their rage, or at least directing it. These maenad often become Ragechemists, and are some of the most unstable maenad in existence.