4. Races

The Humans

Making up the vast majority of the population of of the Free Provinces, humans are still culturally scarred by the reign of the Archmagister. This cultural scarring includes common bigotry towards the Abomination, Elf, Halfling and Gnome races that were created by the Archmagister and to the Dwarf race that raided humans before the rise of the Archmagister.

This bigotry can range from outright hatred (Abominations) to fear (Dwarves) or mistrust (Elves, Halflings and Gnomes).

Nonetheless, this bigotry is not universal (although it is near-universal for Abominations).

The Elves

Elves are white-haired and do not visibly age but live no longer than humans. It is believed that elves were created by the Archmagister to serve as as assistants for magical research, musicians, actors and entertainers throughout his empire. Some elves, it is believed, held high-ranking positions as servants of the Archmagister. A bigoted human would likely view elves as false-hearted, arrogant and loyal only to other elves.

Some elves reject the societies of the Free Provinces altogether and live in secret forest settlements, hidden from humans.

The Halflings

It is believed that halflings were created by the Archmagister to serve as domestic servants throughout his empire. A bigoted human would likely view halflings as lazy, unintelligent and weak-willed, interested only in food, drink and physical pleasure.

The Gnomes

It is believed that gnomes were created by the Archmagister to serve as miners, craftsmen and tinkerers. A bigoted human would likely view a gnome as greedy, grasping and untrustworthy.

The Abominations

Represented ingame by half-orcs and orcs, it is believed that abominations were created to serve as the Archmagister’s soldiers. Even after his fall, abominations continue to appear. They are popularly believed to be the “last curse of the Archmagister” and an echo of his blight upon the Free Provinces. Born to human couples but horrifically disfigured and mutated to large proportions, most abominations are killed at birth. Those unlucky few that live generally survive far from society, where they will not be lynched by peasants, burned by the Dragon-Church or hunted by the Black Priory. Hunting down abominations is often bread-and-butter work for the witch hunters of the Black Priory.

Sometimes entire generations of children in a particular area are born as abominations, leading eventually to roaming tribes of outcasts.

The Dwarves

As far as is known, the dwarves are the oldest race in the world. They were once also the most feared. Hailing from an icy isle across the sea, the dwarves incessantly raided the human lands until the rise of the Archmagister. It is not entirely clear what ended these constant raids. Rumours swirl that the Archmagister magically reached across the seas and sank their homeland, although another theory is simply that their long-lived race aged and could not replenish itself.

Dwarves in the Free Provinces today are uncommon but not unheard of, as the descendants of the raiders and occasional traders that came before them. Mostly keeping to themselves, it is possible to occasionally find dwarven settlements or human settlements – often rural villages in cold areas – where dwarves live alongside humans.

Far from the jovial dwarves of Faerun, the dwarves of this world are self-reliant, brutal, and culturally harsh. Standoffish and openly disdainful of weakness, it is difficult to talk with dwarves. Which is just as well, because the likelihood is that dwarves do not want to talk to you.

The overwhelming majority of dwarves still worship the Old Gods.

Dwarves have multiple rows of shark-like serrated teeth and prefer a purely carnivorous diet – raw meat, still-warm and unseasoned.

• This topic was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by Carlo the DM.