A Brief Description of All Sentient Races in the Arengold Forest, by Vermilion Spirit

Our Primary Tribes

Elves

The Precursors, 403 PW

Created By: Filli
Elves are the primary race of the Arengold Forest. Our people are vastly intelligent, but suffer from overreliance on logic and science. By Filli's grace, we were the first trusted with the Creativity Ritual. By Her grace, we are responsible for the construction of the Arengold Forest as it is today. We are defined by our tall but thin figure and pointed ears.

Humans

The Morningflowers, 1003 PW

Created By: Elves
A sad affair. Humans are simple bipeds. They are rather hairy, somewhat shorter than Elves, and have more rounded features than us. What they lack in our figure, they more than make up for with their beautiful imaginations. Humans blossom quickly, and are masters of storytelling. However, their horrifyingly short lifespans take them often, and they find it necessary to constantly reproduce. They populate the north with their tribes, all of whom communicate with each other. They also despise us, for they are proud creatures that do not believe they need our protection.

Dwarves

The Fortresses, 1644 PW

Created By: Dumgarth
Dwarves were spawned by Dumgarth, the Worldforger, who wished to have a race to teach his intensive craft to. Dwarves were quick to adapt to the forest, and built a massive kingdom of bark and steel to the east of our tree. While we considered them our enemy briefly, we learned of their intelligence and longevity. They are, dare I say, our equals in almost every way. Other than their height. They are built as their fortresses are; short, squat, but immovable. Their men and women alike seem to take pride in their hair, both on top of their heads and on their chins. Braiding is a valid art form for their Creativity rituals.

Orcs

The Conquerers, 2304 PW

Created By: Dwarves
The Orcs were wished to life by a Dwarven Warmaiden who despised her life. The first Orcish female grew into a massive army that has taken over the east and southern parts of the Arengold Forest. The Orcs are quick to reproduce and faster to move their tribes. Filli, in her infinite wisdom, has placed this challenge before us. Their height, mixed with their tough, green skin and pointed ears, make them almost a mirror of our own Elvish race. And I will not pretend that their painting and art is not fantastic, brilliant, and emotionally complex. Their proximity to violence is worrying, however, and I do hope they grow more thoughtful over time.

The Other Races of the Arengold Forest

All things created by Filli and the Gods are worth speaking of. However, these races simply have less of an impact on our wonderful home compared to the first three. We will still discuss each and every one of them.
The Kitsune. Foxflames. 1104 PW. The second Elven experiment were highly spiritual fox people named Kitsune. They were capable of changing back and forth between our people and their fox-like forms. Gorgeous, artistic, and incapable of forming a tribe of their own. Instead, they live among humanoids which their forms mimic.
The Goblins. Maniacs. 1105 PW. None are sure where the short, football-headed, pointy-eared, green demons spawned from. They are nearly harmless, and yet there are few races that I'd rather meet while angry. We only assume they came as a result of Filli's creation of the Kitsune, and yet... There is no way something as beautiful as the Kitsune might be in any way related to the Goblin race.
The Gnomes. Fillikin. 1285 PW. This race became when we asked Filli for a representation of herself. Short and wonderful, the Gnomes boast incredible creativity in every aspect of their life. They are never satisfied with what they have, be it their furnishings, their equipment, or even their body hair. They invented almost all technology, including daily necessities like hair dye or Crawler harnesses.
The Halflings. Windwalkers. 1422 PW. These short and somewhat squat individuals make Dwarves look like mountains. We wished for explorers, and these came. They are nomadic at heart and travel the world constantly, finding new things all over the Arengold forest. Their ancestral art – whistling – is enchanting to listen to.
The Hobgoblin. Warlords. 1500 PW. The Goblins and Orcs wished for the creation of the Hobgoblin. These tall, grey, orc-like creatures lead most Goblin tribes now. At last, some organization! They are immensely intelligent and worthy of talking to, though they do not live long. They are experimental with art as well. Any who can tame the Goblin are truly potent followers of Filli!
The Tengu. Crowfolk. 1683 PW. Crow-faced, short wretches. They greedily use their Huts in order to trick man, woman, and child out of their money. All in return for what they call "Healing." They live everywhere as well. Care for yourself among the Crowfolk.
The Catfolk. Nighteyes. 1947 PW. The Catfolk are a gorgeous people. They take the feline form of the Cat and adapt it to a hyper-intelligent bipedal body. They were created by Dwarves as a hunting people as the Dwarves were tired of being attacked from the South. Now, they are nomads with incredible skill.
The Lizardfolk. Ïorregborn. 2000 PW. One of few races that Ïorreg herself has brought to the tree. These gigantic scaled bipeds live underroot. They control various lakes and offer us rare resources in return for food and materials. Perfect for us, though I do worry that they may never see Ïllume as we do.
The Grippli. Gnarlmasters. 2200 PW. The Southern Gnarls are horrid. And yet, these thinking frogs are capable of taming it. The Grippli are perhaps the only race that does not perform art, instead worshipping Filli by taming the Gnarls' creatures. Horribly barbaric, but I am not wont to judge.
The Ratfolk. Darkcrawlers. 2301 PW. Strange creatures. I have no idea who wanted rats the size of Gnomes with their beady eyes and scraggly hair... And they spend all their time away from Ïllume's blessing! How strange. Though they make wonderful weaves and their cities are awfully complex for creatures so small.
The Kobold. Barkspeakers. 2310 PW. Kobolds are small, scaled creatures. Little more than bipedal fish or snakes. And yet, few can bring such zeal to anything than them. They create whatever they can with bark and twigs, and can make rather impressive works of art! Some even have discovered uses for Arengold Bark than no other race had even considered.
The Anadi. Spiderfolk. 2489 PW. There is little to know about these creatures. They are spiders one day, humans the next. They deserve Filli's love just like all other creatures. And yet I cannot help but wonder why Filli has tested our fears with such a species.
The Strix. Vultures. 2850 PW. None have abused Filli's love like the Strix. These feathered fools live atop the Arengold Tree, hoarding the rare materials for themselves. Somehow, they've befriended all creatures up there. They are vicious diplomats and know exactly what power they have.
The Gnoll. Magicians. 2861 PW. Jörreg created these creatures rather recently. In spite of their shaggy hair that covers them head-to-toe and their doglike body, they formed close tribes of rather potent arcane magic. They've discovered much already about the workings of the arcane, as granted to us by Filli of course. Perhaps someday, they might work as well as the Elves.

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The Oddities of the Arengold Forest

Here shall be listed a few creatures who have no origin or tribe. They simply exist.

• The Aasimar, representations of a Race's paragon status. Many become tribe leaders, some are ousted, others willingly leave to explore the world or join Ïorreg's homestead.A tragic waste.
• The Tiefling, a strange creature that may be some sort of blood punishment of Dumgarth. They seem darker and have a connection to unholy energy... Extremely rare.
• The Fetchling, born from pure shadow and dreams of individual people. Filli usually creates a Fetchling only when a single person needs aid. An odd choice, as the shadow people are somewhat odd to look at.
• The Elemental-Folk, infused with the power of strange locations that are unknown. Apparently, the Gods have places to store things like fire and water. These people are infested with that potency, making their bodies behave in odd ways. As of right now, we know of the following versions; Aphorite (Order), Ganzi (Chaos), Ifrit (Fire), Oread (Earth), Suli (Mixed), Sylph (Wind), Undine (Water). There may be more.

Artist's Forward

This guide is designed to be what we know about the sentient races of the Forest. By Filli's will, many of these races may have different history or new history over the horizon.
This guide was written in 2990 PW. It may be redistributed by Filli's will.

About the Author

Vermilion Spirit, real name Verm'Io Waterwave, is a quite old Elven writer and researcher. Nearly 500 years old, her age grants her a traditionalist view of races and cultures.

She spends her current years with her friend Ice-in-Hand, a Catfolk man.