Races

Human

Dominating the old world, humans are both renowned and infamous for being expansive and opportunistic while also described as versatile and industrious. A typical human stands at an average of 1.75 meters, weighing about 70 kilos. Males tend to be bigger than the female and have better overall physical strength combined with a broader frame of the torso, especially over the shoulders. Females tend to be more agile and have a more slender build over the shoulders but often with broader hips. Appearance-wise, humans are very varied with those closer to the poles having a pale skin tone, becoming darker closer to the equator. Eye-color are also very varied, where people towards the poles having light colors like blue or green while closer to the equator brown becomes dominating. Hair can be anything between straight, curly, and kinky. As with eye-color, more variety is found towards the poles while along the equator black dominates.

Humans are thought to be the most wide spread and most numerous of all races in the world. As to why this is there are no set explanations, only a lot of speculations. What is fact however is that humans seem to have a higher propensity to move and adapt to new environments and circumstances compared to other races. For better or worse it has made humans a dominant force in a lot of places. As such the variations of human cultures are as plentiful as there are humans that practice them, but a consequence is that different groups will clash over different values.

Humans are versatile, meaning that they are able to adapt to circumstances in ways that make it possible to, if not prosper, at least survive. While not having any particular strength, they also don't have any particular weaknesses.

Dworig

Short, stout, and hard as rock. The typical dworig is much shorter, broader, and bulkier than a human, averaging two thirds of a human in height. Male dworig have broad shoulders, great muscle mass and fortitude to match. Commonly they have sharp and broad facial features, often endowed with thick, coarse hair. If male dworig would be described as a rock cut of the mountain, the females would be like stones on a riverbed, made round and smooth by the flowing water. In contrast to the male, the female has less of the sharp features, being instead rounder but still broad. The female frame gravitates to a pear shape but still retain muscular strength and fortitude like the male. The female also has softer and finer hair than males. Appearance is not very varied, with dworig being pale or light-skinned. Hair color goes between blond, to red, to brown. Hair is straight of lightly curly. Eye color goes in degrees of brown towards a dark red. All dworig have facila hair, females to a lesser extent than males. Whereas males have full face growth, female facial hair grow on the sides only.

Dworig are strong and tough but suffer in agility, and while having a greater bodily constitution they need to eat a lot more than other races. They have adapted to high altitude environments with thin air, as well as being able to handle environments in general with low oxygen. But as a drawback they need time to adapt to environments at low altitude with higher oxygen levels, making it dangerous for them to descend quickly. Dworig also have light sensitive eyes, giving them the ability to see better in dark areas as well as easily notice glinting and reflections. However this also makes dworig sensitive to strong and sudden lights.

Dworigs live mainly on the slopes and tops of the mountains of Evperia as well as the Kaza plateau. However, there are some groups and enclaves that live at lower altitudes in the human empires. As such there are multiple dworig cultures, however there are some commonalities between them. Most commonly is the importance of strength and stoicism. Where dworig cultures differ are whether it is a dworig majority nation or not, where those that live in the later adopt the culture of the nation that they are part of. Most noticeable is the way that dworig keep their facial hair. In a full dworig culture a beard is often used as a symbol of status or position within society, while those that live in non-dominant cultures keep facial hair to whatever is common for that area. For instance this can be in a human empire where culture dictates short or stylized trims for men and clean faces for women. Dworig living in this culture will naturally follow this, but it is looked down upon by those dworig that live in full dworig cultures.

Ailvu

Ailvu are shorter than humans and have less mass and body strength but are more agile in comparison. In general ailvu are slim in body with sharp, almost pointy features. More comparatively to humans, the body shape of a male ailvu is similar in shape to a human but lack the same bulk. The female ailvu body tend to be more slender and have a thinner waist than a human female. Between the sexes males have more muscle and mass than females. Ailvu have almond shapes eyes that are somewhat larger than that of a human, especially pronounced in the females. Another well know trait are their elongated and pointy ears, extending slightly outwards from the head. It's said that the hearing of the ailvu are superior to any other race.

The agility of ailvu comes largely from having light and lightly flexible bone structure. The downside is however that their bones are easier to break compared to other races. As ailvu are somewhat lacking in total strength, they make up with endurance.

There is a myth saying that ailvu are immortal, however this has been disproved by anthropologists explaining that though it's not uncommon for individuals to live over a century in good health and vigor, they are nowhere near immortal. This myth most likely stems from the perceived appearance of ailvu as younger even in advanced age.

In general ailvu have light to olive skin, and straight hair varying between light brown to dark violet. Eye color tend to be clear in color between light golden amber, to icy blue, to gray.

Ailvu enjoy living in areas that are open and airy. Along coasts, open plains, glades, and mountain slopes can be places for settlements. There is an aversion to cramped environments which is reflected in many aspects of life, from clothing to architecture, and other forms of expression. When space is limited, oftentimes a way to compensate and give a feeling of spaciousness is to increase flow of air. This is very prevalent in houses by having larger openings to the outside and fewer but larger rooms with high ceilings, separated by thin walls or sliding doors.

In the modern age the Ailvu live on the continent off the western cost of southern Stora, commonly referred to as the Green land. Ailvu are more homogeneously focused than any other race, which has made them withdraw from the rest of the world. There are however records of smaller settlement of Ailvu in the great archipelago, but these are very rare and never seem to stay in place for long. Because of this most people hold a belief that Ailvu are just creatures of myth. Historically however the Ailvu would be a somewhat more common sight as thre would be regular trading occurring as well as there even being small settlements along the coasts of southern Evperia. In the aftermath of the war of the sages these settlements where either destroyed or abandoned as the Ailvu where pushed away due to most of them having been aligned with the sages. These Ailvu returned to the green land and became founders of what would become Son-nu-ha, the sun empire, after a prolonged time of conflict to unite all Ailvu under its banner.

Uruk

The uruk closely resemble humans in body with the same shape and frame, but coming closer the differences appear rather quickly. While being similar to a human, an uruk has a bit more mass while not being bigger than a human. Uruks all have a brown complexion and thick dark hair, the male more so than the female. The face of an uruk is broader, almost flat, with a larger very hard forehead. The nose is broad, as is the lower jaw, and the ears are smaller with a pointy top. Another common feature is larger canines of both the upper and lower jaw, most apparent when teeth are shown.

Uruk have adapted to life in hot climates, both dry and humid, as they are able to regulate body heat and more efficiently retain water than other races. The downside is however that uruk have a hard time with cold climates as they can't retain heat.

Trulr

Tall and rough, with a temper to match. The largest of all races, both in height and mass. A male trulr easily rises three heads above a human while being twice his width. The same is reflected in the female in comparison to a human female. Trulrs have very pronounced features of muscle, sinew and bone despite having a very thick skin. Along with broad chest and shoulders, the arms or a trulr extends a bit longer than humans, but only so much that it feels off when observing them. The face of a trulr is broad, almost rectangular, with deep set eyes under a thick brow and with a hooked flat nose. These attributes are true for both male and female, with the main difference between the sexes to be that males are much larger than females.

Trulr live in the far north of Stora, seemingly preferring the colder climates.

Vetter

The vetter has a wiry build, small in stature and frame with a slight slouching posture along with long arms and legs. Length is rarely taller than a dworig. They have a round head with large eyes, a broad overhanging brow, long pointy ears and a protruding and pointy nose. While hard to see at first sight, the difference between male and female vetter are shown in height, muscle and sharpness of features. The male tend to have broader frame, most visible on the jaw, brow and base of the nose and overall amount of muscle mass. The females tend to be slimmer in all features as well as somewhat shorter than males. Despite their looks, vetters are sly and calculating. They have also been described as opportunistic, even sadistic at times.

Vetter are native to the tropical areas of Ignosia and live in what is best described as small tribal groups. They lack any form of overarching society but have some form of shared cultural expression. Groups seemingly do not cooperate well on a long term basis, instead it appears that they focus on ingroup preference and coercion, at best forming temporary alliances with other groups only to double-cross the others when their use is expended.  

Half-breeds

The issue of half-breeds is not a new one. Humans especially have been mixing with other races throughout history, to larger or smaller extent, but often time with similar results. Though not unheard of, half-breeds are not common. At its core, a pregnancy between races is harder to achieve and carrying is riddled with complication for the mother, more often than not leading to miscarriage or stillborns. The offspring that do survive birth more often than not die within one to two years. Those that however survive to grow up often become outcasts or are forced to live on the fringe of society. While malice may play a part, more commonly this is the result of the offspring not fitting into the greater society because of their inherent differences both physical and mental.

Another matter of fact for half-breeds is the ability to themselves procreate. Almost all half-breeds are born sterile and those few that still have the ability to sire children are rarely able to because of their social situation. Still there are those that claim to have a forefather of another race, but by all accounts any features that come from intermixing disappear within a few generations.

Humans have so far been the most accepting of the mixed offspring, which some attribute to the already wide variety to humankind and the multitude of different societies within it, making it possible for any half breed to find a place. Other races have had a harder time to find a way for those of mixed heritage.

Among the Dworig, though not shunned, a half-breed are looked upon as not as capable at tasks, which sets them aside. However, if a half-breed proves himself to be as capable has his Dworig kin, is vouched for by others and consequently lives up to expectations, he will be accepted without hesitation.

The Uruk are less prone to accept anyone that is not full Uruk. This puts most of mixed heritage in low rank, pushed to the fringe of Uruk society. Among the clan hierarchy, it takes much to rise, more often than not locking someone in place for life unless circumstances become exceedingly in ones favor. It is also too common that a half- breed Uruk is shunned by the clan in full, declaring the half-breed a Kuvmac and forcing him away.

Among the Ailvu, a half-breed may not be even considered a full being. A mix with humans resembles the full Ailvu enough that it may be at least accepted into society, but always as a second class citizen. Any other mix however will be used or sold as slaves, forced into exiled or simply killed in the cradle.