Human

Population

expect to find more than a few (but never more than 5-10%) among Dwarven and orc cities. maybe a larger portion of desert city. are they found in elf city or outcast? SLIGHTLy more in porto ribelle/nassaro maybe.

Humans have a real refugee feel to them. Still a lot of Dwarven resentment toward humans due to human/dwarven conflicts pre-fall? Companies requires scalatoran citizenship. it is VERY hard for humans to get citizenship ($). much easier for orcs, galvan and elves to get citizenship. the citizenship process invites a lot of questions into the human line and potential ties to government/human houses. dwarves know the 12 tyeps of markings to look for. especially the ones related to house law, death, commerce, etc.

Houses

Noble Houses that operated as defacto guilds - oversaw industries because they're naturally gifted. when bastards were found with the marks, they'd be brought-in. maintains control by gatekeeping tradition/knowledge (like universities). Leader of each house was called a Thane. lord was a common title for the nobles of the family.
key is to separate the houses from their concepts. instead, there are a handful of noble families. and each of them happen to have a Knack, and they're often chosen by one of their gods (cyclical thing, where someone is chosen by a god they follow and gifted abilities. and with that influence they raise their children to excel at this. occasionally bring others in and become a guild with a family at the core of it. At this point, the houses no longer technically 'serve' their gods, as the gods' influence wanes in favor of the house's political power..
may put multiple houses in Human Capital City (Cawdor?) (HCC): Petregast, Thane, Harlanfaust,
HCC (marks of death) House Petregast - Oversee the practice of morticians across the nation. Ruins: The Mausoleum. A massive mausoleum housing the most important figures of national history. District of of the city is built atop the stone structure of these catacombs.
HCC [marks of law + service] House Thane - Operate as Judges/lawyers. who command the knights and town guard. Usually a House can then contend for the loyalty of the knights + guards that serve them. and these are individual arrangements they've made with House Cawdor over the years. (Notable: Archon Edmund Thane")
HCC [marks of commerce] House Harlanfaust - operate as THE Bank, and oversee merchants, filing of taxes, etc.
secret [marks of fear] The Covenant - masked council of people who pull the strings of the nation. they set into motion the events that led to Arkhan's ascension. One of them was the gravedigger who spoke to the Arkhan and told him about the lich ritual. They are also the ones that orchestrated the backing of the Emperor.
[marks of Love] House Abara - Operate as matchmakers and oversee SWs
[marks of Shelter] House Castillo - Operate as builders / maintenance
[marks of Harvest] House Choi (Mart-) - Oversee the distribution of food and operation of the nation's arable land.
[marks of Victory] House Tasarov - Oversaw sports + athleticism, and often went on to serve in armed forces.
[marks of Discovery] House Libervost - Operate the Academy
[marks of Creation + Beauty] House Miyabi - train artists, gardeners, fashion, etc. House established at Garden Spring

Gods

see Human Pantheon. depictions range from person to person/region. but every god has a standard "Iconography" (like scythes or herons) that allow an artist to clearly represent them.

History

There is an old Imperial line that has drastically waned in power with the rise of the Houses. Thane Lear of House Cawdor oversees the growing independence of the houses - even gets gifted a title "Archon" by the emperor as a gesture of consent)
The Archon sees that his power is waning as natural disasters strike and his taxes-to-maintain-federal-power stresses those houses. imperial line is now being backed by many of the houses - even has a fancy new throne built. As the imperial power builds (and rumors of the Witch assassins involvement), Lear looks for a symbol of his power. He plans to construct his own throne (to rival the imperial throne) - constructed from the exhumed bones of his family, which has held their position for two or three centuries.
While doing this, he meets a 'gravedigger' with the Mark of Death who tells him about the way the wyches have achieved immortality. In actuality this gravedigger is one of The Covenant, pushing the king toward his deal with death.
Arkhan then separates himself from death via lich ritual. and this 'threatens' or upsets Shin-rath. Shin-rath appears and asks him what the fuck he thinks he's doing. and Arkhan begins to negotiate, thinking himself as an equal. Arkhan has secured his eternal life, but shin-rath tells him that he will horrify people and they'll flock entirely to Emperor.
Shin-rath offers Arkkhan the service of all the dead of the kingdom, in exchange for shogun to deliver shinrath the living of the kingdom. king pulls back on food, creating starvation and strife. knows that the emperor will march his armies and in doing so result in a lot of death for shinrath.

The Undead

The Human nation all turned to undead as a result of the archon's pact. each type of undead was the result of a different oath/subjectivity to that king.
The Lich King(Person) - formerly Achon Edmund Thane
Ghosts - commonfolk who died after the ascension of the Archon?
Draugr - the previously dead brought back to serve the Archon at the time of his pact?
Death Knights - an order of knights still loyal to House Thane.
Ossiarchs - The Standing army (of the arkhon or of the emperor?)
Court: individual monsters: a death-steed, some kind of scary jester,

scary jester may appear at death and make offer. like the box (you live and someone else dies - fun opportunities to make that death impede the player). or (go and father 7 kids, i'll have the ability to take their life whenever i find it most amusing). or trolly problem - your life, or 5 others.

The Wyches (liches) - sisterhood of assassins. loyalty given to the Emperor. technically not a result of the archon's pact, but their own deals with Death.

Meta

Architecture:
food and culture: japanese/highland
names:any, really. but the named Houses are from highland, japanese, south asian, slovak, and african origins.
general inspiration:feudal/imperial history, particularly japan
themes: They brought about their own doom through corruption of their ideals.
many humans today have the challenges of a refugee
tropes leaned on:flawed/doomed institutions (to the point of destruction), diaspora, short-lived and shortsighted
tropes inverted:everywhere, numerous.