Humans

Human Populations

There are four major human populations on the continent, and each of the major islands also has a distinct body type.

Westerners, now uniformly under the thumb of the elves, tend towards a fairly elven body type: tall and slight, with pale skin. Unlike their elven neighbors, westerners usually have light wavy hair and don't show the full range of elvish hair colors.

The people of the steppes, and their descendants in Duma, Gravla, and the northern Dar Empire, are fair skinned, short, and stocky with a lot of blonde to brown hair. Men can grow beards almost as well as dwarves, and their faces tend to be fairly flat.

Darans, including those in Elvish Daria and some of the Darian states, have medium brown skins, straight black or dark brown hair, dark eyes and strong noses. They are medium in build.

The people of the eastern coast tend to be short, swarthy, and lithe, although this population is the most mixed of all the groups, so that it is not easy to describe a typical Pennisian, for example, as the farther north the more they will look like a Duman, and the farther south the more likely they are to have dark Daran skin or even the tight blonde curls of a Kreketan.

Kreketans are racially distinct, with tight blonde or white curly hair and extremely dark skin. They tend to be quite tall and skinny compared to most continental populations. Havonians are also usually tall, but generally built like the side of a barn. Their hair is red or blonde, their eyes light, and they tend to freckles. Northern Kreketa has significant inmixing from the continental populations, but the xenophobic Havonians have almost none.

Dar Empire Dar is an empire based on the Dar River, whose yearly floods provide the basis for rich Daran agriculture. Dar is also famous for the fine quality of Daran architecture, with their cities built of stone, well organized, and hygienic with public baths and many monuments. Dar is also the front line against the elves, having lost much of the western Empire, now Elvish Daria, in the elvish wars over a hundred years ago. The Empire still considers Elvish Daria part of its lands. While not everyone on the continent speaks Daran, Pennisian and Fiskalian are somewhat similar to it, and almost everyone writes using the Daran alphabet. Darans are proud and civilized, and each Daran knows his place in society, rarely trying to rise out of it. Dar is governed by an Emperor but more correctly by the Imperial Service. The Dar Empire is the most fertile land on the continent, and produces everything from wheat in the north to cotton, linen, and rice in the south. Treaties between the Empire and several of the eastern kingdoms provide for aid in the case of elven invasion, these treaties having been signed after the Dar River War. The Empire is to some degree still smarting from that war, having hocked a lot of their wealth to pay for it. The Dar Empire is probably the most xenophobic of the human kingdoms with regard to elves, with no enclaves and few elven visitors, those always protected by orcish bodyguards. A brief aside on Daran burial customs Quick stereotype: Rome meets India meets Egypt. Everything is well organized, the architecture is massive, there's a public bath in every block. Daran keyword: Speak Daran, Daran Culture, Daran Geography, Know Place in Society, Boating, Swimming Suggested Traits: Appreciate Architecture, Proud, Clean, Hate Elves, Fear Elves

Darian States

The Darian States are about ten small countries all of whom live in fear of the Daran Empire. They owe their continued existence to aid from Pennisia and Fiskaly, neither of which wants Darans at their back doors. These states are disorganized and politically complicated, their people always looking for a better deal or some easy gold. People in the Darian states generally speak Daran and Pennisian or Fiskalian. Many Darian states base their economy on one or another mine in the mountains just to their north, the richest mining area east of the Dar. A lot of scheming and a few outright wars also are caused by these mines.

Quick stereotype: Italian city states.

Darian keyword: Speak Daran, Darian Culture, Darian Geography, Speak Pennisian or Speak Fiskalian, Bargaining, Sincerity

Suggested Traits: Daran Culture, Nose for Politics, Lazy, Greedy, Hate Darans, Envy Darans

Duma (and Lower Duma)

Duma is populated by a hardy people with little humor. Lower Duma is populated by the same people, but in Lower Duma they are less hardy and love a good joke. Dumans make their living from the ocean more than the land, and Lower Dumans make their living from trade more than anything else. Duma and Lower Duma each have a High King, and a council of landowners that makes all major decisions about the country. You can find Lower Dumans everywhere, even in the far reaches of the elven lands, trading. The Dumas also produce a fair amount of metal: iron and silver from mountain mines.

Quick stereotype: Norwegians, but without the Viking spirit, or humorous Finns.

Duman keyword: Speak Duman, Duman Geography, Duman Culture, Debate, Fishing, Sailing, Whittling

Lower Duman keyword: Speak Duman, Duman Geography, Duman Culture, Debate, Barter, Appraise Trade Goods, Other Culture Customs, Tell Joke

Suggested Traits: Hardy, Endure Cold, Long-winded, Weather Eye, Hate Steppe Dwellers, Hate Migrants

Elvish Daria

Elvish Daria was historically part of the Dar Empire (unless you take the history back far enough, when it was part of the continent-spanning Elvish Empire). Part of it was captured about a century ago at the end of the first Elvish expansion, the rest captured during the Dar River War (along with some of the present day Dar Empire which was recaptured during the war). Elvish Daria is populated by a mix of Darans and Westerners, with more of the former, and like the Dar Empire is rich agricultural land. Especially in the west, the elves are making good use of that land growing new crops, blood trees, and so on.

Elvish Daria is not terribly rebellious - Darans are used to a fairly heavy government and are not a rebellious people. Still, especially in the eastern part of the country, there are sporadic humanist movements. These are becoming less and less frequent - the elves are willing to crush out human resistance as though killing rabid animals - activities little different in the Elven mind.

Quick stereotype: Romans without much pride, or India under foreign kings. There's still a public bath on every block, but it's not as well maintained as it used to be.

Elvish Daran keyword: Speak Daran, Daran Culture, Daran Geography, Know Place in Society, Speak Elvish, Agriculture

Suggested Traits:Subservient or Rebellious, Fear Elves

Fiskaly

The Fiskaly peninsula is blessed with mild weather perfect for agriculture and a people who are at turns languid and fiery. Fiskalians put great stock in relationships and family honor. No business can be done in Fiskaly without first having something to eat, and no slight ever goes unavenged. Fiskaly has a Queen at the moment, and underneath is governed by Dukes and Duchesses. Fiskaly has benefited greatly from increased elven contact and trade in the past decade.

Quick stereotype: Italy or Spain.

Fiskalian keyword: Speak Fiskalian, Fiskalian Culture, Fiskalian Geography, Defend Family Honor, Gossip, Farming, Knife Dueling

Suggested Traits: Dance, Proud, Arrogant, Hate Migrants

Gravla

Gravla is a stolid country of farmers and herders that is being revolutionized by the King's wholesale embrace of prayer mill arcanology. All prayer mills in the country are part of the government, and all arcanology is under the direct control of the King. If he were more expansionist, his neighbors would be more worried, but he's mostly enthralled by the possibilities. Gravlans speak a dialect of Duman.

Quick stereotype: Germany crossed with Russia - solid, dependable people with an all-powerful king.

Gravlan keyword: Speak Duman, Gravlan Culture, Gravlan Geography, Farming or Herding, Riding, Archery

Suggested Traits: Love the King, Inferiority Complex, Hate Steppe Dwellers

Havon Havon is the most conservative of the human kingdoms and still does not use prayer mill arcanology. The mountainous Havon islands hold little interest to outsiders, and Havons keep to themselves, trading little and not interfering in mainland affairs. In keeping with this, the Havon language is very difficult for outsiders, and Havon runes are not at all like the Daran alphabet used by everyone else. Recently, Havon has been a popular location for dragon hunts, something the locals look on disapprovingly. Havon is governed by the Incarnate Sun, believed to be descended from the sun god. Whatever major noble family is married to the Incarnate Sun at the moment holds the real power in the country. Havonian steel is considered the best on the continent, as their mountains are rich in iron and their alloying techniques quite advanced. Quick stereotype: Japan meets Scotland - clans, pride, strange clothes, and bad accents. Havon keyword: Speak Havon, Havon Culture, Havon Geography, Revere Incarnate Sun, Despise Outsiders, Havonian Claymore Fighting, Farming or Fishing Suggested Traits: Sailing, Polite, Proud

Kreketa

Kreketa is sunny and laid back. Kreketans have a saying: why worry about tomorrow when you can drink today? Amazingly, the island doesn't fall into complete ruin, since Kreketans take pride in creating and maintaining things. Of the human kingdoms, Kreketa is second only to Havon in resisting prayer mill arcanology, believing that anything worth doing is worth doing by hand. Kreketa also has very little native religion, being mostly animist in background, and thus has few gods to exploit. Kreketa should have benefited from elven trade, being an easy sail from elven lands, but has little interest in trade in general. As archaeology becomes more popular on the mainland, expeditions to Kreketa suggest that the natives have lived there for an extremely long time. Kreketan oral tradition, however, tends to jumble together past events - anything longer ago than your great-grandparent's time is lumped together as "back-back time". Kreketans use the Daran alphabet when they bother to write things down.

Quick stereotype: Jamaica or similar laid-back Carribean locale, crossed with Greece.

Kreketan keyword: Speak Kreketan, Kreketan Culture, Kreketan Geography, Laid Back, Craft (choose one), Sailing, Drinking

Suggested Traits: Loves Sunshine, Story-telling, Tolerant

Migrants

Migrant farm workers are a mixture of human nationalities, except in the Dar Empire where they are mostly Daran (due to its north-south orientation, the Empire can support its own population of migrants). An interesting component of the migrant pool comes from westerners displaced during the war of elvish expansion in the previous century. Migrants speak their own pidgin which varies from population to population based on the original ethnicity of the migrants and their seasonal routes.

Quick stereotype: Gypsies, but with more farming and less fun.

Migrant keyword: Speak Migrant Pidgin, Human Lands Geography, Work All Day, Farming, Walk All Day, Weather Sense, Tend Work Animal

Suggested Traits: Quiet, Speak Pennisian, Well-Traveled, Hunting

Misk

Misk is small and combines Rohostian bluntness with Pennisian individual ambition, making it the cradle of learning in the human lands. Misk is governed by a council of powerful sorcerors, elected to the council by those already on it. Today, other learned professions are slowly supplanting the sorcerors. While the Pennisians discovered prayer mills, arcanology was turned into the powerhouse it is today in Misk. Due to their position Misk is not in the habit of keeping secrets - it instead gives its discoveries away to anyone (or any noble anyway) who comes to learn. No one would tolerate an invasion of Misk, though every country probably wishes it could control the country. Misk has a small, but very effective, army, armed with the latest in Miskan arcanology. Miskian is the language of learning across the eastern human lands, although not much spoken in Havon or the Dar Empire.

Quick stereotype: Yankees crossed with Swiss.

Miskan keyword: Speak Miskian, Miskian Culture, Miskian Geography, Read Miskian, Good Memory, Magical Lore

Suggested Traits: Curious, Honest, Dramatic, Arrogant

Mosk

Mosk is the only country to have maintained a little of its own identity under the Elvish Expansion. Mosk traded with the elves for centuries before the expansion, and was allowed to continue as its own country when the elves swept over its neighbors. Mosk is governed by a king and his council of advisors - now one of the advisors, called the Imperial Advocate, is an elf, and the voice of the elf carries more weight than the other advisors. The present king is a young man and seems to have little interest in bucking the Elvish yoke.

Moskans have always been great traders and continue in this tradition. They are reknowed as fair traders who are hard to take advantage of.

Quick stereotype: Britons - Moskans queue properly for everything.

Moskan keyword:Speak Moskan, Speak Elvish, Moskan Culture, Moskan Geography, Elvish Culture, Barter, Appraise Goods, Sailing

Suggested Traits: Honest, Orderly, Subdued, Fair

Pennisia Prayer mills were discovered in Pennisia, which is the strongest of the human countries after the Dar Empire. Pennisians are proud and haughty - they know that their country is the best of all possible countries. They are conspicuously not Daran: their cities are tangled masses of confusing streets, and they pride themselves that anyone with talent can get ahead in life, though this is only really true for nobility. Pennisia has a fairly feudal organization, with Dukes and Counts under the King. Quick stereotype: France, but with more ambition - much more medieval France than modern France. Pennisian keyword: Speak Pennisian, Pennisian Culture, Pennisian Geography, Urban Survival or Farming, Resist Disease, Gossip Suggested Traits: Scheming, Know Place in Society, Speak Miskian

Rohost

They say that Rohost is where you go when you are sick of surprises. Run by a council of Dukes and an appointed Grand Duke, Rohost ought to be a hotbed of intrigue. Instead, it's as exciting as watching grass grow - politics in Rohost is strangely aboveboard, and Rohostians pride themselves on their bluntness. It does keep them united and prevents them from being overrun by their more ambitious neighbors. In Rohost, people speak Miskian.

Quick stereotype: England, but with less scheming. Rohostians queue up when they need to take their turn.

Rohost keyword: Speak Miskian, Rohost Culture, Rohost Geography, Honest Reputation, Find Cooperative Solution, Thick Skinned

Suggested Traits: Honest, Dull, Level Headed

Steppes

The steppes are still home to numerous traditional barbarian tribes, some of them barely out of the bronze age. Historically invaders from the steppes have overrun neighboring countries every few hundred years - Dumans, Gravlans, and northern Darans are the most recent such populations, dating from a major invasion about 500 years ago. Modern arcanology is likely to make future invasions a losing proposition.

Quick stereotype: Mongol crossed with Viking hordes.

Steppes keyword: Speak Primitive Duman, Ride, Mounted Archery, Herding, Sense Weather, Steppes Survival, Steppes Culture

Suggested Traits: Despise Weak Civilized People, Proud, Hardy, Worship Sky

Veradeen

Veradeen is the most ambitious of the human countries. Fairly unimportant, and with few natural resources, Veradeen is nevertheless leveraging alliances (with Misk and Gravla) and building up a significant army. Lower Duma or Rohost are the most likely targets, though the Veradian King maintains good relationships with all his neighbors. They do say, however, to never turn your back on a Veradian. Veradians speak Duman with many Miskian loan-words.

Quick stereotype: Germany when it's feeling expansive.

Veradian keyword: Speak Duman, Veradian Culture, Veradian Geography, Lie Convincingly, Diplomacy, Spot Weakness

Suggested Traits: Ambitious, Revere King, Sincerity, Speak Miskian

Western Kingdoms

The Western Kingdoms have been conquered by the Elves for a century or more, enough time for rebellion to have been basically stamped out and the population mostly domesticated. To the Elves, humans are animals and can be controlled like any animal population - they wild ones are killed and the more easily controlled ones allowed to breed and thrive. Historical distinctions between the countries are being lost as the elves move people from one place to another, homogenizing the population. The languages are also being lost, with the exception of Moskan.

Quick stereotype: Aside from the occasional throwback, these people are sheep.

Westerner keyword:Speak Elvish, Elven Culture, Western Human Culture, Agriculture or Animal Handling, (Country) Geography, Know Place in Elvish Society

Suggested Traits: Quiet, Obedient, Fear Elves