Rootless
In a world where solid ground is hard-won and reliable clean water scarce, nomads are common. The rootless are those that have fully embraced the nomadic lifestyle, drifting from place to place on family-owned ships handed down from one generation to the next. For many rootless, family ties are forever… but the call of the horizon is strong.
Rootless tend to be hardy sorts, raised among the perils of the open sea - they have no illusions about the waves, understanding their danger and their beauty in equal parts.
Fleetfamilies
Rootless families aren’t decided by who shares blood, but rather who shares a ship - serve on a vessel for long enough and you become more than just crew. There are no distinctions between bloodline, no tests to pass or arduous examinations. All a fleetfamily is, at its heart, is a group of people who have sailed the same waves and come to both respect and rely on each other. Large galleys, shared sleeping spaces and communcal eating areas are all entirely normal.
A Roving Lifestyle
You go where the waves take you - it’s a common adage among the rootless, but life is rarely as simple as that. Rootless ships choose their destinations based on need; perhaps for medical supplies, or a certain foodstuff, a trade opportunity or a bout of nostalgia.
Questions to Consider
When you incorporate elements of the rootless into your character, consider the following questions…
- Were you born on your fleetfamily’s ship, destined for inclusion?
- What port have you visited that left a mark on you, for good or ill? Were you ever tempted to stay behind as your ship left?
- Have you ever offered a place in the family to an orphan, an unfortunate or a runaway? If so, do you still see them now?
Alternate Presentations
Rather than focus on a roving lifestyle rootless colonies could take on elements of the trade-ships of old, cutting precise paths between multiple settlements repeated year after year. You could even remove the concept of movement altogether but keep the proximity to the sea, treating the rootless as wreck- or reef-dwellers.