The Drungar: People of Stone
The dwarven Drungar believe their gods shaped them from mountain stone. Masters of forge, axe, and hammer, they thrive in the depths of the Hammer’s Hold Mountains, bound by unbreakable clan honor and ancestral duty. They maintain limited trade with the nations of the Human race. The Drungar live in a theocracy based on rules of honor and tradition. Each generation sees more drun born cursed, Nar-Kolbur, weak and tunnel-blind, threatening their very existence. Their high-priests guard a gift entrusted by the gods but not yet understood. They remember the Olmrun Brokgar, the world-breaking.
The First Clans
Four clans rose in the first days of their history. The clans: Iron Hammer, Stone Fist, Anvil Heart, and Deep Forge. The Drungar nation holds great respect for the First Clans.
The Elan’vul: People of Harmony
The elven Elan’vul claim to be the eldest of races. They believe they were called from moonlit pools in a sacred grove by the creator’s song. Dwelling in ancient forests where every leaf whispers creation’s song, they perceive the vibrational music of living things that defines existence. They are a people of unmatched aesthetic refinement, and vanity is almost a sacred duty. Like the generational curse of the Drungar, the Elan’vul see more children born Vel’theenar, deaf to the song that is their birthright to hear. The legacy of their first queen haunts them. The sins of the Mad Queen created the Shadow-Bred, who plague the world hundreds of years after her fall.
The Rendel’hai and Thanith’morim
The Elan'vul are xenophobic by nature. They do not permit other races to enter their territories with ease. Within the military of the nation of Ev'ulan, two groups stand out above the rest.
The first are the Rendel'hai, their regular army. Though they fight with a range of weapons, they are famed above all for their mastery of the longbow. The Rendel'hai guard the borders of Ev'ulan, and their insignia is a wreath of leaves with fifteen outward-pointing thorns, representing the 15 families of the high council, encircling a sunburst, a moon, and a star. These symbolize an unbroken, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree protective force standing watch over their country by day and night.
The second are the Thanith'morim, elite warriors charged with hunting down enemies of the Elan'vul who have crossed the border or who dwell within it. They have been given the authority to judge each threat, expel it, or to eliminate it with extreme prejudice. Their insignia bears the same wreath of leaves, but with ten thorns, representing the ten units of operatives, turned inward, framing a dagger set over a moon and star. The dagger marks their more lethal purpose, while the absence of the sunburst signals their covert methods. It is also believed that these ten units act under the authority of the ten families who first swore fealty to the First Queen of the Elan’vul, Th'aloren Vel'caershanothari'elenduros'morneth.
This queen is now known as “The Mad Queen.”
The Shadow-Bred: Echoes of Corruption
Twisted mockeries of creation, born from the Mad Queen’s crimes against nature itself. She corrupted every race except her own into nightmarish forms that should not exist. The Drungar call them Nar-Grimuk. The Elan’vul call them Vel’neth - the Silenced. Humans call them abominations. They infest swamps, isolated valleys, and untamed wilds. The curse cannot be reversed, healed, or undone. Each is a permanent testament to what happens when power seeks to master rather than serve.
Humanity: The Scattered People
Humanity is the least of races, or so the others say. Short-lived and ever-changing, they possess no universal gift binding them to stone or tree. The confederated nation of Alameth, the ocean-faring Sea Lords, and the nomadic Morakon horse-tribes are as different as the domains they rule. They are adaptable, innovative, and spread across every climate and terrain. The truth of their origin lies buried beneath millennia of forgotten history, surviving only in scattered texts few have read.
The Imperium: Servants of the Dark God
The Imperium serves Ildune, the dark god summoned to Olmith in the beginning days. The immortal witch who summoned him serves as his Empress. Once human, those who bow before her are hardly recognizable as such. The corruption of their souls soon moves to the surface. Ildune’s near-victory in the world-breaking nearly shattered existence itself. Though legends say the gods defeated and imprisoned him, his corruption lingers: a veil of deception that twists perception itself covers the world. Totalitarian and expansionist, they call the Great Cataclysm “The First Cleansing” and believe Ildune will return to finish what he started.