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. Each generation sees more drun born cursed, Nar-Kolbur, weak and tunnel-blind, threatening their very existence. They remember the Olmrun Brokgar, the world-breaking. Their high-priests guard a gift entrusted by the gods but not yet understood.
The Elan’vul: People of Harmony
The elven Elan’vul claim to be the eldest of races. 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.
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 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.
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.