Races

Humans:
It's obvious what humans are. They are the stinking, festering blight of the world, slowly bringing it into decay, never ceasing to war and love and hate all at once, without, ironically a care in the world for the world itself.

Like most races of the land of Drionus, humans can be (and have been) divided into a series of subspecies, each categorized according to lineage, land, and attributes.

Whiteguards -
Descended form the Alcha clan, the Whiteguards (sometimes called Whitegard, though that is usually reserved for their homeland), also called Whiteguardians, are among the brightest, most creative humans in Drionus. They are tinkers and philosophers, hailing from Whitegard, the easternmost province of the Whitelands. They have been responsible for many technological advances such as crossbows, the repeater crossbow, some steam-powered machinations, even the primitive musket.

Generally, Whiteguards are leaner, thin-built people, usually attributed to the Wightflower plant, which, in ages past, is believed to have mutated many of the early Whiteguardian people, expanding their intelligence, but limiting their strength. Their lack of strength is the leading reason cristiliat is so widely-used among them.

Vulgrads -
Descended form the Thalos clan, the Vulgrads (or Vulgradians) are a strong people who call the mountains of Vulgrad (the westernmost province in the Whitelands) their home. Eons of harsh conditions in the barren, snowy wastes of the north have made a hardy, strong-willed people out of the Vulgrads - but those same snowy wastes were home to several other people groups, all fighting tooth and nail for control over the white, causing an early-bred warlike tendency within these strong-muscled men.

The harsh conditions of the North has led to both these peoples, as well as the Whiteguards, to put much faith in their gods for protection, leading to a strong-faithed, religious people today.

Their religion requires every Vulgrad to spend all his days working, and not to spend any time resting. Their heaven is Aethsvar, where they will work alongside gods. Their hell is Nethsvar, where they are forced to suffer an eternity of rest, and never working - a thing which other races might strive for.

Corans -
Descended from the Cora clan, the Coran people are a relatively peaceful people living in the forests and canyons of the beautiful West Vale, the human-claimed territory of the western mainland. They live in relative harmony with their four neighboring races - the Dragonkin, the Lizardkin, the Dwarves and the Elves - and have taken to an almost Arveri-esque liking to the bow. They are renowned for their rangers. The Nelloc/Silent Men belong to this sub-race.

Emisars -
The Emisars are the "stern-faced" humans hailing from Southron, descendants of the Emis clan. Out of all the sub-races of humans, Emisars are likely the most unremarkable. Despite the agility and deathly-efficient battle-prowess of the Duneguard order of assassins, there's few things Emisar's are exceptional at, though their homeland is exceptional in its geographical diversity, sporting a desert, green hills, forests, and rocky cliffs and plateaus. Emisars are usually given the evil-eye, as the Arkenian Throne, the lead faction in their homeland, is a slave empire that hunts down and enslaves wood elves native to the forests in Southron, and the slave traders of the Black Hills stemmed from their own land.

Blackhearts -
"Blackheart" is a recently developed term for the humans hailing from the Black Hills, descendants of the Lucen clan. Up until seven centuries ago, the Blackhearts were known as the Lucens or the "silver people." Their land was one of beauty, known as the Silver Hills for it's green, rolling hills which were rich in silver veins which were exposed to the surface. After eons of mining, however, the hills were barren, and wars raged across the land for control of the now-rare silver, the Hills' once leading export. After decades of unending war, a curse befell the people, and all those native to it were victim. Their positive emotions were driven from them, and all that was left were hatred, anger, sadness, despair, all that which we strive not to feel.

No one knows who cast the curse. Some speculate it was the Eight Wisemen. Others say it was the gods themselves. Whoever it be, the curse remains, and no counterspell has been found.

The Lost Race -
"The Lost Race" is what the original humans of the world are sometimes known as. Before the Heretic Uprising, before Markus destroyed the Overlords and Kranin banished the clans to the four corners of the realm, humans possessed supernatural strength and abilities. Kranin stripped them of this power when he exiled them.

Elves:
When Kranin first created Drionus, he was saddened by its emptiness, and desired to give it life. So he looked to the angels in Eternity with him, the Elves (also "Veri"), and molded Man in their image. But when he saw humans were flawed, that they warred and hated, that they shed blood over silly things, he cast Elves from Eternity, banishing them for their imperfections, but he was not so harsh as to not give them a purpose in their new life. He sent them to Drionus to watch over and guard the humans, to protect them from themselves where the Overlords had failed to do so.

Elves typically stand taller than humans, have fair skin and a head of beautiful hair. They have ears that come to a pointed taper at the end, and are usually thinner and nimbler than humans.

It is also known that Elves have a chameleon quality, though much more advanced than that of the actual creature. Elves take in the aspects of their environment. A Light Elf, the long-extinct ancestors of High Elves, were described as "beautiful women, with hair as gold and skin bright like the suns, with eyes more precious than amethysts." It is believed that these elves' features were the result of long exposure to the beauty of Eternity and the gods, and that they had taken the quality of such a realm. When they arrived on Drionus, they still possessed such beauty, but after years of living in the mortal realm, they lost their heavenly beauty.

In essence, an elf will very much resemble what he surrounds himself with.

Wood Elves -
Wood Elves (Arveri) are a shorter (compared to other elves), nimbler subspecies of Elves that live in forests. They have longer limbs and either brownish or greenish skin, with a rough, almost bark-like texture to it. They have long, pointed ears. They are masters of hunting and short, curved swords, and aren't as much of craftsmen as some other elves. Their main homelands are the forests in Southron or the West Vale.

High Elves -
High Elves (Hyveri) are tall and lean, usually outgrowing most humans. They tend to have pale skin, though noble elves living in the skylands of Hy-Effia (literally "High-Realm," or, more literally, "Heaven Realm") can have almost blue skin. They are skilled with magic, riding, longbows and longswords, and many are skilled craftsmen. They tend to have short, pointed ears and noble features. Many think themselves "superior" to other races. They tend to live thousands of years, though the lower class, living in the underslums, are involved in the drug trade of Hy-Effia and live much shorter lives.

Light Elves -
Light Elves (lluveri, Luxsveri, Solveri, Aeterveri) are a dying race of Elves, the originals to come here from Eternity. There is only one documented, known refuge of still-living Light Elves in existence, on the sky-island of Luxsvar, high above the Whitelands. It is said the city there is built from materials taken from Eternity itself, and that his how they still look like their former selves. Light Elves are immortal, though not invincible.

Deep Elves -
Deep Elves (Nethveri), also called White Elves, Dark Elves and Cave Elves, and not to be confused with Magma Elves, are a little-seen, rare breed of Elves who live deeper than the Dwarves themselves, sporting pale white or light gray skin and long, monstrous pointy ears. It is not entirely known why these Elves went so deep, or what they were looking for, but they certainly exist. They are shorter, and generally less well-postured than other elves, and certainly more hideous. They are barbaric, and usually remain locked in their deep caverns, living in the dark, the terror of Dwarves who go too deep. Their lifespan is unknown. The most notable time of their emergence from the Deep are the Three Dark Elf Resurgences, where warbands from the Deep fought their way up Dwarven mineshafts and laid waste to Anvil, raping, pillaging and burning for unknown reasons.

Magma Elves -
Magma Elves (Hrauveri, Iggveri) live mostly in the volcanic islands in the southwest or in the Iccar Mountains to the very west, usually in relative harmony with Magma Dwarves. They are a red or grey skinned peoples, shorter and stouter, with a harsher language, adapted from their dwarf neighbors, and short, slightly-pointed ears. They usually have a special affinity for fire magics.

Sea Elves -
Sea Elves (Marrveri) are the race of elves with the most tragic history. They were brought into being by the Water Goddess herself, and are the only race of Elves not stemming from the original Light Elves fashioned by the first god, angels of Eternity. The Water Goddess populated her moon, Reea, with the elves, but one day sent them to Drionus for unknown reasons, where they took up residence in the deep seas, becoming masters of glassworking, using the deep-sea vents as forges. Eventually, they were hunted to extinction by greedy men for their beautiful scales and fins, not knowing they were Elves, as their physical appearances were so vastly different and barely humanoid.

Glass Elves -
Glass Elves (Ereveri) are the remnants of the Sea Elves. They sought shelter with the kind humans of the Harenoss, and they gave them refuge. In return, the Glass Elves taught them their art of glassworking. Now, many ancient Glass Elf ruins, made of magical glass still stand in the Harenoss desert, though their race is, to anyone's knowledge, extinct. Glass Elves were said to look very much like the beautiful structures they created - reflective, colorful skin and rigid, sharp body structures. They weren't very handy with combat, but glass golems, relics from their time, guardians of their homes, imply that they were handy with magic. Their lifespan is unknown - indeed, few records exist about them, likely due to the fact that both the Glass Elves and the Harenoss men agreed to keep their existence largely a secret, so that the greedy men who hunted them would not find them. It is unknown why they are extinct.

Silver Elves -
Silver Elves (Gotveri) are the tall, massive inhabitants of the Varwood, the Varla forests - huge silver trees, with bluish leaves, native to parts of the West Vale. They live in and around these trees, and keep quite to themselves. Little is known of them, and it seems they would like to keep it that way. They are said to be among the longest-living elves, with tall bodies and broad limbs, silvery skin and blue eyes and hair. They are rare, and said to be a dying species, though no one knows why.

Dwarves:
Dwarves are the hardy, alcohol-loving, warmongering, greedy, mining denizens of the mountain. They are short, generally hairy, and have muscles built for long mining sprees. The typical dwarf can go roughly 72 hours without sleeping, as they were built for perfection.

Mountain Dwarves -
Mountain Dwarves (Fel-Durgs), sometimes called Tunnel Dwarves, or more often Stone Dwarves, are the typical image of dwarves that comes to mind when one summons such a thought. Stone Dwarves tend to have dark hair, very short statures, ugly faces and stout limbs. They can live a little ways past 400. They take a shining to ale - and all things shiny, digging deep into the world, past the Shallows and into the Deep itself, doing battle with goblins and creatures all the way, just for even a speckle more of gold.

Deep Dwarves -
Deep Dwarves (Gob-Durgs), also called Dark Dwarves, are the nasty, barbaric subspecies of dwarves living in the Deep, fighting with and against the creatures and Deep Elves therein. Their intentions are not clear. Some speculate they are greedier still than their cousins in the Shallows, while others speculate they lost a love for glittering things. Some texts attribute them as having "eyes glinting with the greed of gold," but still others suggest black eyes, others still suggest red. Whatever the case, Deep Dwarves are even less seen than their Elf counterparts, likely because of the nonexistence of a "Deep Dwarf Resurgence." It is unknown why these dwarves went so deep. Some say they got lost looking for something. It is unclear. It is also relatively unknown why they have such different features - some suggest Dwarves have the same chameleon-esque ability elves have, which would definitely explain it.

Magma Dwarves -
Magma Dwarves (Mag-Durgs, literally "Magma Dwarves") are the hot-blooded variety of dwarf, living in the hot, lava-infested caverns around a volcano or deep in the earth, or around and within a volcano itself. Concentrations of Magma Dwarves appear in the Iccar Mountains and the volcanic islands of the southwest. They generally have red skin, or a silvery, obsidian skin or ash-like skin. They are larger than most dwarves, and favor blunt weapons and round architecture, much like their native volcanoes. They usually live the same length as Stone Dwarves.

Frost Dwarves -
Frost Dwarves (Guf-Durgs, Fro-Durgs), sometimes called Snow Dwarves or Steam Dwarves, are the tinkering neighbors of the Whiteguards, proficient in mechanics and sporting arguably the most imaginative minds in all Drionus. They aren't such good fighters, but when it comes to an engineer, you'll find no better dwarf.

Validusan Dwarves -
Validusan Dwarves, called Fro-Durgs more often than Guf-Durgs, are the short-lived cousins of the Frost Dwarves, living in Validusia, a small province in the Whitelands plagued by Dwarven Dragons. They were specially bred by the Whiteguards and the Steam Dwarves, using a mix of selective breeding, genetic experimentation and magical modification. These dwarves are handy with magic, javelin throwing, spears, hammers, heavy armors, are nimble, tough and the world's best dragonslayers.

Problem is, they can't live over twenty years.

Lizardkin:


Lizardkin (or Minasers, Man-Snakes) is the somewhat misinformed misnomer for the race of snake-men worshipping the snake goddess Sasal.

Lizardkin stand slightly hunched, with faces resembling either a lizard or a snake, depending on who you ask, and leathery hides akin to a snake. Their tail reflects a serpent, as well - long, twisting, and slowly slithering. Lizardkin take pride in the colorful patterns running from their tail, up their spine, to the tops of their heads. They live primarily in the Bogmaw Swamps of the West Vale and the swampy archipelagoes on the Crystal Coast of Anvil.

Vale-Kin -
"Vale-Kin" is the nickname for the Lizardkin living in the Bogmaw Swamps of the West Vale. They are far more civilized than their west Anvil brethren, and live in harmony with the Corans of the Vale.

Anvil-Kin -
"Anvil-Kin" is the somewhat clunky nickname for the more savage society of Lizardkin living in the swampy archipelagoes of west Anvil. They have more barbaric customs, and are often enslaved by the independent kingdoms of humans around that area.