Roxxy
2012-02-23, 05:56 PM
They are for a homebrew campaign setting. Could you guys look it over and tell me whether this is enough information to offer players new to the setting? I haven't included mechanics, since fluff is what I need looked over.
Racial History
The history of humans in Thyressa begins tens of thousands of years ago, when the gods were bequeathed rulership of the world by whatever mysterious forces created it. They decided to populate it with living creatures, and so they created the dragons. They wanted more creatures, however, so they experimented time and time again, making hundreds of different life forms, none of which was quite what they wanted to rule the world. Then they created the humans, who were the best creatures yet. They were left to grow and develop on their own, with the gods watching and not interfering unless necessary. Over thousands of years, the only direct intervention was when they made males and females equal after gender disparity caused unintended consequences. It was eventually decided that men should have women's stronger perceptive and empathetic abilities and women stronger muscle to compensate for their lack of muscle in order to forstall the rampant male dominance. Things were good for awhile, aside from a couple bumps like the creation of the Divni, until a rogue faction among the gods decided that the humans could be a bit better.
So the fey were created, like humans but shaped and, in many cases, twisted by vast magical power. Most of the gods were displeased by this, as they saw the existence of the fey as a threat to the humans. They decided that someone needed to protect the humans from the fey, and chose one of the races of humans, the Elves, as the people to do it. They gave Elves access to a great deal of arcane power, so that they could rule over and protect the other human races. This arcane power allowed Elves to cast spells far faster and with fewer components than the other races, making them the strongest humans around.
The Elves, however, abused this power. Though they did keep the fey from dominating the humans, the Elves dominated other humans themselves. Only the Dwarves, who were able to defend their isolated communities with skillfull defensive architecture and constant military training, escaped Elven tyranny. Elves gaurded their arcane power jealously, claiming that their arcane secrets were handed down by the gods and that any other human race that used arcane magic was getting their knowledge from evil powers. Elven rule was brutal and totalitarian, even though it did keep the fey at bay.
This order existed for over five hundred years, until the gods finally got tired of it about 150 years ago, and decided that the Elves needed to lose their dominance. Therefore, they revealed the arcane secrets they had given the Elves to all of the other human races, so that everybody could be equally powerful. Once this happened, the Elven order collapsed, with the other humans tearing their order down violently.
Races
In Thyressa, there are three races of humans created by the gods: Magni, Elves, and Dwarves. There are also the Divni, a human race created by the dragons, the Wildkin, a human race created by the fey, and changelings, planetouched, and hybrids, all of which are variants of humans but not their own races. All humans share a similar life span, being considered adults at 18 and reaching the end of their natural lives at around 120 years old.
Magni
The Magni are a race of humans known for the way they differ from each other so much. Elves, and Dwarves have basic roles outlooks on life, albeight with plenty of deviations from these norms. Magni, however, tend to differ a great deal from each other. This is generally thought to be do to the fact that there are many more Magni than any other human race.
Personality
Magni, unlike other races, have no real unified outlook on life, and their personalities vary greatly. What does unify them is a view of them being the average human.
Appearance
Magni are, on average, between 5'3" and 6', though they have more variation from this norm than other humans. They possess rounded ears, red, blond, brown, black, or white hair and brown, green, grey, blue, or black eyes, with a large variety of possible body types.
Relations
Historically, Magni have seen Elves as oppressors, but with the end of Elven domination this has changed, and most Magni either are willing to accept that the Elves are no longer enemies or unwilling to trust them lest they try to conquer everyone again. Dwarves are seen as excellent builders, and their services are much valued among those Magni that can afford them. Changelings are usually viewed with a degree of pity, and Wildkin with mistrust and suspicion. Divni are seen mostly with a level of tolerance. Hybrids and Planetouched can be seen with a wide level of opinions, depending on their ancestry.
Lands
Magni live in the majority of the world's environments, being a very adaptable and widespread people. They mostly live in small nations or city states, ruled by either elected or hereditary officials. They have historically had a feudal culture, but in the modern day it is losing a great deal of traction in favor of popular rule and corporations.
Elves
Elves are a race of humans who are known for their aristocratic and skill with arcane magic. Nowadays they share power with Magni, but in the past they ruled over other them as dictators chosen by the gods themselves.
Personality
Elves are generally seen as an aristocratic race, which has to do with their history as the world's dominant humans. They have a love of magic, scholarship, art, architecture, natural beauty, and the finer things in life, and a respect for authority, tending to defer to those of higher rank.
Physical Description
Elves are, on average, between 5' and 5'6" tall, with pointed ears about 3 inches long that rotate in response to their emotions. They tend to have slender, graceful builds, with hair in bright colors, such as reds, blues, greens, purples, yellows, and so on, or black or white hair. They only posses hair on their scalps and pubic regions. Their eye colors are in the same range as their hair colors, and it is more common to have different hair and eye colors than for both to be the same color. About one in three Elves has a form of heterochromia, usually either complete or central, and it generally isn't a signifier of any medical problems.
Relations
Elves are a race haunted by their dictatorial past. They do their best to distance themselves from this past out of shame, treating the races they once dominated, in particular Magni, with respect to prove that they aren't still the tyrants they once were. Aside from those individuals unwilling to trust them after everything that happened, and some minority groups of Elves who refuse to let go of the power they once had, the Elves generally have good relations with all of the other human races do their almost obsessive efforts to form such relations.
Lands
Elves mostly live in the same communities as Magni, having historically ruled over them. They have a special love of rural communities with plenty of access to unspoiled nature and high end urban areas, but they can be found pretty much anywhere where Magni and other human races, aside from Dwarves, live.
Dwarves
Dwarves are a race of humans known for their technological and archeological skill and the fact that they are the only human race that prefers to isolae their communities from those of other races.
Personality
Dwarves are a determined and hard working race, with a great deal of ingenuity. They are often architects, scientists, inventors, and builders, and place a great amount of importance on family and ancestry. They tend to respect education and professionalism a great deal. They prefer to have leaders with a large amount of power to act but with a watch on their power, being especially fond of constitutional monarchy.
Physical Description
Dwarves stand, on average, about 4'9" to 5'3", with a somewhat solid build. They take much pride in their appearance and hygene, being a rather clean race. They tend to prefer long hair, and, if male, beards, often braided, but this is not universal. They tend to have hair in earthy colors, such as browns, greens, and autumn yellows, reds, and oranges, or hair in metallic or gemstone colors. Their range of eye colors is about the same, with having hair and eyes of the same color being about as common as hair being a different color than the eyes.
Relations
Dwarves are generally neutral in regards to other human races. They are willing to trade and make agreements with them, but they prefer to remain politically seperate. Dwarves like to handle their own business, and expect other human races to respect this desire. They tolerate members of other human races being present in their cities, so long as they obey Dwarven law, but their communities are generally fairly isolated from other humans, politically if not geographically.
Lands
Dwarves live in many different environments. They prefer those that involve architectual challenges, with four main ethnic groups existing. Mountain dwarves tend to live in cities carved from the surfaces of cliffs and mountains. Cave dwarves live in cities located in caves and caverns deep underground, tree dwarves live in cities suspended from hundreds of tall trees in forests and jungles, and sea dwarves live in giant city ships that can support entire communities. These are just the largest ethnic groups, with others also existing in other environments that support their love of architectual challenges.
Divni
Divni are a race of humans created not by the gods, but by the dragons. The dragons were angry at the gods for abandoning them as the dominant race of the world and eventually, out of hubris, decided to create their own race of humans, using the Elves as a baseline.
Personality
The Divni are a young race, with only about six hundred years of history. This colors their personality, and tend to be very curious about pretty much everything. They don't have much of a unified culture, being chaotic and freedom loving, as resentful of being dominated by others.
Physical Description
Divni have the same height, body shape, and hair and eyes as Elves. They are covered with a layer of scales so thin that they are only obvious from a few feet away or closer. Their scales generally have the same coloration range as their hair and eyes, and most Divni have at least three scale colors, if not more. Their coloration usually forms patterns, such as stripes, spots, rosettes, and the like.
Relations
Having been granted the same arcane secrets that the Elves had by the dragons, and having been built with the Elves as a blueprint, they were very much resented by the Elves during the days of Elven dominance. The Elves weren't outright hostile do to the Divni's equal power, and tolerated them living in their communities as allies against the fey, but they always kept an eye on them, especially considering their chaotic nature. Divni are very curious, and react to other human races with a keen interest in them and their behavior. For the most part, they are accepted by other human races as being generally non-threatening to their ways of life.
Lands
The Divni can be found where Magni and Elves can be found, preferring much the same environments as Elves do.
Wildkin
Wildkin are a race of humans created by the fey and inspired by the creation of the Divni. They were intended as a weapon against the humans, but decided that they would rather not be slaves to the fey, and refused to serve them.
Personality
Wildkin are a strong, brave, and independant people. They revel in their freedom, and resist any attempt by the fey to take it away. As a result, they are very much a warrior race, seeing it necessary to protect their freedom from the fey by armed resistance. War is a central part of their lives do to their resistance against the fey, and almost every Wildkin knows how to use a weapon or cast a spell.
Physical Appearance
Wildkin are, on average, between 5' and 5'6", and have the same variety of possible body types as Magni. They possess pointed ears about 6 inches long and rather wide and covered with fur, and long tails covered with fur. Some have slender, smooth tails, others bushy tails. Other than this fur and the hair on their scalp and pubic area they have no body hair. Their hair and eyes usually mimic tones present in domestic or wild dog or cat species, and their skin often has coloration that does the same.
Relations
The Wildkin loathe their fey creators, seeing them as cruel manipulators who wish to enslave them. They would gladly support other humans against the fey, but their fey heritage makes them generally mistrusted. A great many move to settlements of other human races to try and prove themselves trustworthy, and are generally met with suspicion, if not outright hate. Humanity is at war with the fey, and to many the Wildkin represent this enemy.
Lands
Wildkin usually either live in the settlements of other humans or form their own settlements, usually in the wilderness and heavily defended.
Changelings
Changelings are humans who were kidnapped by the fey for service as slaves but later escaped. They possess a small measure of fey power from their time in slavery.
Personality
The personality of a Changeling is largely dependent on what human race they belonged to before they were kidnapped and how old they were. Most Changelings are kidnapped during the first 12 years of life. They very often have mental scars from their ordeal, but what they are depends on the individual and the type and duration of slavery.
Physical Appearance
Changelings generally look like members of whatever human race they were before being kidnapped, though some have a sense of otherworldliness about them
Relations
Changeling race relations depend a lot on what race they used to be, though many see them with a degree of pity.
Lands
After escaping, Changelings generally live wherever they can get by, return home, or seek out a new home. It all depends on the individual, and they can be found pretty much anywhere.
Planetouched and Hybrids
Planetouched are humans with a degree of ancestry from creatures of other places, such as angels, demons, and elementals, and Hybrids are humans born from the union of more than one human race.
Personality
Personality of Planetouched is largely determined by what their human race is, though the creature they are descended from can also matter somewhat. A person with devil blood may be very different from someone of protean blood. The personality of a hybrid is largely dependant on the races the individual is descended from.
Physical Appearance
Planetouched look like their human race, but very often show evidence of their planar heritage in the form of unique physical features. Hybrids generally look like a blend of their parent races, though which race is more evident depends on the individual.
Relations
For Planetouched, this is largely determined by the human race and type of planar ancestor. With Hybrids, it depends on the parent races.
Lands
For both Planetouched and Hybrids this is largely dependant on race.
Racial History
The history of humans in Thyressa begins tens of thousands of years ago, when the gods were bequeathed rulership of the world by whatever mysterious forces created it. They decided to populate it with living creatures, and so they created the dragons. They wanted more creatures, however, so they experimented time and time again, making hundreds of different life forms, none of which was quite what they wanted to rule the world. Then they created the humans, who were the best creatures yet. They were left to grow and develop on their own, with the gods watching and not interfering unless necessary. Over thousands of years, the only direct intervention was when they made males and females equal after gender disparity caused unintended consequences. It was eventually decided that men should have women's stronger perceptive and empathetic abilities and women stronger muscle to compensate for their lack of muscle in order to forstall the rampant male dominance. Things were good for awhile, aside from a couple bumps like the creation of the Divni, until a rogue faction among the gods decided that the humans could be a bit better.
So the fey were created, like humans but shaped and, in many cases, twisted by vast magical power. Most of the gods were displeased by this, as they saw the existence of the fey as a threat to the humans. They decided that someone needed to protect the humans from the fey, and chose one of the races of humans, the Elves, as the people to do it. They gave Elves access to a great deal of arcane power, so that they could rule over and protect the other human races. This arcane power allowed Elves to cast spells far faster and with fewer components than the other races, making them the strongest humans around.
The Elves, however, abused this power. Though they did keep the fey from dominating the humans, the Elves dominated other humans themselves. Only the Dwarves, who were able to defend their isolated communities with skillfull defensive architecture and constant military training, escaped Elven tyranny. Elves gaurded their arcane power jealously, claiming that their arcane secrets were handed down by the gods and that any other human race that used arcane magic was getting their knowledge from evil powers. Elven rule was brutal and totalitarian, even though it did keep the fey at bay.
This order existed for over five hundred years, until the gods finally got tired of it about 150 years ago, and decided that the Elves needed to lose their dominance. Therefore, they revealed the arcane secrets they had given the Elves to all of the other human races, so that everybody could be equally powerful. Once this happened, the Elven order collapsed, with the other humans tearing their order down violently.
Races
In Thyressa, there are three races of humans created by the gods: Magni, Elves, and Dwarves. There are also the Divni, a human race created by the dragons, the Wildkin, a human race created by the fey, and changelings, planetouched, and hybrids, all of which are variants of humans but not their own races. All humans share a similar life span, being considered adults at 18 and reaching the end of their natural lives at around 120 years old.
Magni
The Magni are a race of humans known for the way they differ from each other so much. Elves, and Dwarves have basic roles outlooks on life, albeight with plenty of deviations from these norms. Magni, however, tend to differ a great deal from each other. This is generally thought to be do to the fact that there are many more Magni than any other human race.
Personality
Magni, unlike other races, have no real unified outlook on life, and their personalities vary greatly. What does unify them is a view of them being the average human.
Appearance
Magni are, on average, between 5'3" and 6', though they have more variation from this norm than other humans. They possess rounded ears, red, blond, brown, black, or white hair and brown, green, grey, blue, or black eyes, with a large variety of possible body types.
Relations
Historically, Magni have seen Elves as oppressors, but with the end of Elven domination this has changed, and most Magni either are willing to accept that the Elves are no longer enemies or unwilling to trust them lest they try to conquer everyone again. Dwarves are seen as excellent builders, and their services are much valued among those Magni that can afford them. Changelings are usually viewed with a degree of pity, and Wildkin with mistrust and suspicion. Divni are seen mostly with a level of tolerance. Hybrids and Planetouched can be seen with a wide level of opinions, depending on their ancestry.
Lands
Magni live in the majority of the world's environments, being a very adaptable and widespread people. They mostly live in small nations or city states, ruled by either elected or hereditary officials. They have historically had a feudal culture, but in the modern day it is losing a great deal of traction in favor of popular rule and corporations.
Elves
Elves are a race of humans who are known for their aristocratic and skill with arcane magic. Nowadays they share power with Magni, but in the past they ruled over other them as dictators chosen by the gods themselves.
Personality
Elves are generally seen as an aristocratic race, which has to do with their history as the world's dominant humans. They have a love of magic, scholarship, art, architecture, natural beauty, and the finer things in life, and a respect for authority, tending to defer to those of higher rank.
Physical Description
Elves are, on average, between 5' and 5'6" tall, with pointed ears about 3 inches long that rotate in response to their emotions. They tend to have slender, graceful builds, with hair in bright colors, such as reds, blues, greens, purples, yellows, and so on, or black or white hair. They only posses hair on their scalps and pubic regions. Their eye colors are in the same range as their hair colors, and it is more common to have different hair and eye colors than for both to be the same color. About one in three Elves has a form of heterochromia, usually either complete or central, and it generally isn't a signifier of any medical problems.
Relations
Elves are a race haunted by their dictatorial past. They do their best to distance themselves from this past out of shame, treating the races they once dominated, in particular Magni, with respect to prove that they aren't still the tyrants they once were. Aside from those individuals unwilling to trust them after everything that happened, and some minority groups of Elves who refuse to let go of the power they once had, the Elves generally have good relations with all of the other human races do their almost obsessive efforts to form such relations.
Lands
Elves mostly live in the same communities as Magni, having historically ruled over them. They have a special love of rural communities with plenty of access to unspoiled nature and high end urban areas, but they can be found pretty much anywhere where Magni and other human races, aside from Dwarves, live.
Dwarves
Dwarves are a race of humans known for their technological and archeological skill and the fact that they are the only human race that prefers to isolae their communities from those of other races.
Personality
Dwarves are a determined and hard working race, with a great deal of ingenuity. They are often architects, scientists, inventors, and builders, and place a great amount of importance on family and ancestry. They tend to respect education and professionalism a great deal. They prefer to have leaders with a large amount of power to act but with a watch on their power, being especially fond of constitutional monarchy.
Physical Description
Dwarves stand, on average, about 4'9" to 5'3", with a somewhat solid build. They take much pride in their appearance and hygene, being a rather clean race. They tend to prefer long hair, and, if male, beards, often braided, but this is not universal. They tend to have hair in earthy colors, such as browns, greens, and autumn yellows, reds, and oranges, or hair in metallic or gemstone colors. Their range of eye colors is about the same, with having hair and eyes of the same color being about as common as hair being a different color than the eyes.
Relations
Dwarves are generally neutral in regards to other human races. They are willing to trade and make agreements with them, but they prefer to remain politically seperate. Dwarves like to handle their own business, and expect other human races to respect this desire. They tolerate members of other human races being present in their cities, so long as they obey Dwarven law, but their communities are generally fairly isolated from other humans, politically if not geographically.
Lands
Dwarves live in many different environments. They prefer those that involve architectual challenges, with four main ethnic groups existing. Mountain dwarves tend to live in cities carved from the surfaces of cliffs and mountains. Cave dwarves live in cities located in caves and caverns deep underground, tree dwarves live in cities suspended from hundreds of tall trees in forests and jungles, and sea dwarves live in giant city ships that can support entire communities. These are just the largest ethnic groups, with others also existing in other environments that support their love of architectual challenges.
Divni
Divni are a race of humans created not by the gods, but by the dragons. The dragons were angry at the gods for abandoning them as the dominant race of the world and eventually, out of hubris, decided to create their own race of humans, using the Elves as a baseline.
Personality
The Divni are a young race, with only about six hundred years of history. This colors their personality, and tend to be very curious about pretty much everything. They don't have much of a unified culture, being chaotic and freedom loving, as resentful of being dominated by others.
Physical Description
Divni have the same height, body shape, and hair and eyes as Elves. They are covered with a layer of scales so thin that they are only obvious from a few feet away or closer. Their scales generally have the same coloration range as their hair and eyes, and most Divni have at least three scale colors, if not more. Their coloration usually forms patterns, such as stripes, spots, rosettes, and the like.
Relations
Having been granted the same arcane secrets that the Elves had by the dragons, and having been built with the Elves as a blueprint, they were very much resented by the Elves during the days of Elven dominance. The Elves weren't outright hostile do to the Divni's equal power, and tolerated them living in their communities as allies against the fey, but they always kept an eye on them, especially considering their chaotic nature. Divni are very curious, and react to other human races with a keen interest in them and their behavior. For the most part, they are accepted by other human races as being generally non-threatening to their ways of life.
Lands
The Divni can be found where Magni and Elves can be found, preferring much the same environments as Elves do.
Wildkin
Wildkin are a race of humans created by the fey and inspired by the creation of the Divni. They were intended as a weapon against the humans, but decided that they would rather not be slaves to the fey, and refused to serve them.
Personality
Wildkin are a strong, brave, and independant people. They revel in their freedom, and resist any attempt by the fey to take it away. As a result, they are very much a warrior race, seeing it necessary to protect their freedom from the fey by armed resistance. War is a central part of their lives do to their resistance against the fey, and almost every Wildkin knows how to use a weapon or cast a spell.
Physical Appearance
Wildkin are, on average, between 5' and 5'6", and have the same variety of possible body types as Magni. They possess pointed ears about 6 inches long and rather wide and covered with fur, and long tails covered with fur. Some have slender, smooth tails, others bushy tails. Other than this fur and the hair on their scalp and pubic area they have no body hair. Their hair and eyes usually mimic tones present in domestic or wild dog or cat species, and their skin often has coloration that does the same.
Relations
The Wildkin loathe their fey creators, seeing them as cruel manipulators who wish to enslave them. They would gladly support other humans against the fey, but their fey heritage makes them generally mistrusted. A great many move to settlements of other human races to try and prove themselves trustworthy, and are generally met with suspicion, if not outright hate. Humanity is at war with the fey, and to many the Wildkin represent this enemy.
Lands
Wildkin usually either live in the settlements of other humans or form their own settlements, usually in the wilderness and heavily defended.
Changelings
Changelings are humans who were kidnapped by the fey for service as slaves but later escaped. They possess a small measure of fey power from their time in slavery.
Personality
The personality of a Changeling is largely dependent on what human race they belonged to before they were kidnapped and how old they were. Most Changelings are kidnapped during the first 12 years of life. They very often have mental scars from their ordeal, but what they are depends on the individual and the type and duration of slavery.
Physical Appearance
Changelings generally look like members of whatever human race they were before being kidnapped, though some have a sense of otherworldliness about them
Relations
Changeling race relations depend a lot on what race they used to be, though many see them with a degree of pity.
Lands
After escaping, Changelings generally live wherever they can get by, return home, or seek out a new home. It all depends on the individual, and they can be found pretty much anywhere.
Planetouched and Hybrids
Planetouched are humans with a degree of ancestry from creatures of other places, such as angels, demons, and elementals, and Hybrids are humans born from the union of more than one human race.
Personality
Personality of Planetouched is largely determined by what their human race is, though the creature they are descended from can also matter somewhat. A person with devil blood may be very different from someone of protean blood. The personality of a hybrid is largely dependant on the races the individual is descended from.
Physical Appearance
Planetouched look like their human race, but very often show evidence of their planar heritage in the form of unique physical features. Hybrids generally look like a blend of their parent races, though which race is more evident depends on the individual.
Relations
For Planetouched, this is largely determined by the human race and type of planar ancestor. With Hybrids, it depends on the parent races.
Lands
For both Planetouched and Hybrids this is largely dependant on race.