Humans
Humans
Humanity became the most dominant race on Trutina for two reasons. They are ambitious and clever. Humanity captured two continents thanks to their ferocity and creativity when facing their opponents. They are weaker than orks, less agile than the elves and less inventive than the dwarves. Their strength lies in their ability to compensate for these weaknesses unlike their peers. They live for around 80 years, but begin to show signs of old age as early as 40. Their short lifespans combined with their ambition motivates them to make as much of their lives as possible.Everyone knows about humans, but despite their undeniable success, most races look down on them. Elves see their short lifespans as unacceptably short, while orks view them as weaklings. Despite this, they managed to win wars against all of the other major races on the planet. The warmongering nature of humanity is their weakness as well, causing a lot of infighting amongst empires and kingdoms, religions and ethnicities. Despite their belligerence, humans always come together to defeat any outside threat before returning to their own games of power.
In addition to their ambition, humans are often very religious. It isn't unusual for humans to sacrifice themselves for 'the greater good' or in the name of a higher power. Their religious extremism lead to the foundation of many different religions, all seeking to find and teach the truth about creation. Also, their rulers often claim to have a divine right to rule over their realm, which was bestowed upon them by the gods. These religious differences often end up in religious wars, or as the historians of the Continent call them, Holy Wars in the name of the Order.
The most unique feature of human society is hereditary power. The practice that upon a ruler's death, their successor must come from their family is a unique oddity amongst the races. Orks value strength, elves elect emperors, but humans can be born into royalty. Human empires, kingdoms and even duchies stay in the hands of families for generations before they are taken or sold to someone else.
History
Humans are the most common (and according to elven scholars, the only) descendants of the Forebears. The first people to that can be called Humans appeared in the jungles of Central Aitrun, but much of the Forebear population of Aitrun and the Continent developed into humans concurrently.In Southern Aitrun, great civilizations developed that are foreign to that of the Continent's. There and in other parts of Aitrun, they mostly share their lands with Felines and other anthropomorphic, intelligent creatures.
Humanity found its perfect home far from its birthplace. The Continent provided fertile lands and already standing settlements, built by the Forebears.
Far from the place of the Forebears' creation, humanity mostly adopted Chaos worship as the ways of Order were slowly fading from their consciousness. Great Kingdoms rose and fell, wars were fought over territories and petty misunderstandings.
This era ended when the Probare fell from the sky. As a Prophet of the Order Gods and a newly created Machinist, he possessed all the knowledge lost to humanity. This lost knowledge, carried on golden tablets was slowly transcribed by faithful followers of the Order and the resulting books were placed in a library, built specifically for this. Later, the library was turned into a cathedral and the teachings began to spread. With the completion of the Cathedral and the first Probare of The Church of Order, a new Era began for humanity. With the Order unifying the people it has spread to, they began to develop and achieve better lives for all. Those who refused the Order were coerced into accepting it, until the majority of the Continent fell under its teachings.
Goliaths
Goliaths, or Half-Giants are the tall, strong people of the Úar'Gannau mountains who lived on the border of Orkagr for hundreds of years in clans before the Order captured them and created the Mountain Kingdom of Gannau. They are generally hairless, tall humans with grey skin and a strong physique , which gives them a better chance when fighting their ancestral enemies, the orks. Their other abilites and life-span is comparable to regular humans.The majority of humans know about the "Giants of Gannau", but those that live further away only hear tales of these people. Despite this, goliaths make sought-after mercenaries in every human kingdom and empire, so they can be found far from their homeland.
Those who know about goliaths know that they are just like any other human, just bigger, so their society depends on their location.
History
Goliaths are actually a subrace of humanity that developed in the harsh environment of the Úar'Gannau Mountains. They are taller and stronger than most humans due to the proximity of orks and other, similarly hostile creatures. They had to fight for their survival, which made them stronger, but more savage than other, civilized groups of people. When they weren't harassed by attackers from the North, they often ransacked human settlements to their South, which eventually led to the Third Holy War in the Name of The Order and their subjugation by Kirk II 'the Wise'. Since then, they slowly adopted their cultural norms and standards of living. With sophisticated defensive structures and increased help from other, orderly people, the severity of the ork threat was reduced and Goliaths could start to develop their own, civilized culture.Halflings
The most mysterious of the human races, halflings are short people who resemble human children. Otherwise, they live as long as any human. They are weaker, but a little bit more agile than regular humans and they excel in sneaking around. Their most notable attribute is their uncanny luck however. Many members of the Order view halflings as the chosen people of the Great Mechanism as their luck seems to defy all odds at times.Despite the fact that most people know about their existence, very little is known about them. Halflings often seem to just appear out of nowhere as travellers and merchants. They refuse to tell about their homeland besides the fact that it is a peaceful paradise where no conflict exists.
Aagiors
Aagiors are people blessed by the divine power of the Order, giving them various advantages over their regular human brethren. These include an innate ability to cast spells, to close wounds simply by touching them and a resistance to magic. They are often recognizable by their appearance, as it shows their divine heritage in the form of a slightly metallic skin tone. Aagiors have a strong connection to a specific god of Order, with whom they share a strong bond and from whom they receive visions and dreams. This connection can be severed, causing the Aagior to 'fall' from grace.
Aagiors are people of legend, ancient heroes of Order stories and legends. Even if they exist, they are so rare that most people live through their entire lives without hearing about them.
Fiendlings
Fiendlings are born from 'chaos-tainted' parents or in rare cases, as the child of a demon and a non-demon. They are quite varied as their appearance often reflects some aspect of their chaotic heritage. Many of them actually look like a regular humanoid with an innate ability for spellcasting.Most Fiendlings have two names. A regular name and a 'demonic' name. While their regular name comes from their parents and can be changed, their 'demonic' name is inscribed onto their soul upon their creation.
Human Blacksmith
Goliath Warmaiden
Halfling Carpenter
Bolena Seagha, an Aasimar hero of the 1st Holy War
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Geographic Distribution
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