| On the Main continent of Kanris, where all of the RP'ing has gone on for so long, The tribal structure of Humans is dominated by three main groups, all of which are constantly at the brink of open warfare, skirmishing and such, and yet have never actually gone all out against each other. As well, there are innumerable smaller, but still strong, tribes which really do little else besides attempt to hold their own. Wary be those of larger tribes which venture into another's territory in a weak party, they really.. Really don't like each other.. The Lutganz are among one of the stronger tribes, a coastal empire for the most part, their strength was originally derived from trading rights with the Elven city of Sepion, which they had the good fortune to own the territory in which that city was built around of. With high-quality (read: Masterwork) Elven Bows armor, Swords, etc. - as well as minor magics to aid them, they quickly expanded in every direction, dominating until they encountered.. The The Oronis (Plural Oroni) - Which was originally one of the smaller tribes surrounding the coastal cities of the Elves, though it didn't have the exclusive trading rights the Lutganz had. Having heard reports far up north of the massive swath of blood caused by the Lutganz with the aid of Elven weapondry, the warchief of Oronis immediatly launched the tribe into an all-out war for exclusive trading rights with the Elven city of Venai, and succeeded. Former members of those tribes that were pushedout continue to be bitter, but oppressed, to this very day. The tactical genius of the Warchief went beyond merely seeing an oppourtunity and seizing it, he actually managed to begin pushing back the Lutganz, it seemed he might dominate the coast... Nearly five years ago, the Warchief died suddenly, he was an old man, and it might have been natural, but the entire Oronis tribe suspects either poison by the Lutganz, or magic by the Elves. The two tribes have been pretty much stalemated since.. The third tribe, the Vennui take their name, oddly enough, from the leader of the Elven Armies which originally destroyed the humans. Apparently, the decision of naming has worked, as it's become the only tribe to become dominate without constant trading with the Elves, and as such, is extremely worrisome for the Elven Nations... The secret of their power came from completely disregarding the Taboo against entering the ruins of former cities destroyed by magic, vanquishing the beasts within at a tremendous cost, and laying the smackdown with pre-apocalyptic weapons which had absorbed magic into them.. Even more powerful than what the Lutganz and Oroni were being equipped with in fact, but there was a limit to it... There are only so many ruined cities that can be pillaged, and the costs to loot any were usually incredibly great... This behavior has also resulted in the direction of a great many more monstrous creatures spawned of magic going against the Vennui, as well as reports of covert Elven strikes, it seems everyone is against them.. Of course, the players come originally from this tribe, heh... In rumors about the Vennui, and unheard of elsewhere, for even the hint of it to Elves would likely result in a massive retaliatory strike, there speaks of a great city from before the destruction which has been rebuilt in the heart of Vennui territory. Here the massive background Magic has resulted in a city composed almost entirely of sorcerors, the ancient forges have started up again, and even of rogue elves with shadowed skin marking them forever apart from their bretheren working with the Vennui for mysterious ends.. Obviously, a very frightening prospect if it can be proven, and the location discovered.. The reported name of this city? It never had an official name, but stories have given it Phoenix, representing the fiery rebirth of humankind... The Underdark of Shale, an endless twisting maze of passageways and lava flows. As above mentioned, the world of Shale is still relatively young in terms of tectonic movement, and without the silly little physics of the real world to stop it, Shale has become an even deadlier place than normal, with rivers of Lava running in vast underground tubes, Elemental pockets of pure Fire and Pure Eath exist in abundant quantities, though they are mostly uncontrollable by the denizens of the Underdark. The Dwarves, already mentioned, are engaged in an almost uninterrupted war with the other Underdark races, though spies, scouts, and adventurers of the dwarvern people have reported far greater horrors than even the dwarves are facing. If even one of these empires, Illithids, Deep dragons, Genies, Elementals, And yes, even the Drow, should wage a protracted war, the Dwarven shield would fall. Of the Goblinoid races, the only free examples of their kind left on the face of Shale, a meager, horrible existence is all that's garunteed to them. They spend their lives, not in a conflict for territory or glory, but for mere survival. Below their lands, the Massively powerful races of the Underdark vye among each other for power, while, above them, they are forced into the dwarven lands further and further each year, mostly due to the expansion of the lower races.. Little if any hope is garunteed them. Of the lowest races, only the Drow are of any particular mention, thier origin far different than the Dark Elves of forgotten realms. Rather than a great war upon the surface many years ago, it was the warriors, heroes of the Orc wars, the greatest of the Surface Elven battlemages and Warriors which plunged deep into the underdark to purge Shale of the last of the goblinoid races. What they met, horrified them. Races, equal, if not greater in power to the Elves, the raw elemental gates which let things formerly thought to be only useful summoned creatures into the world. For the first time in their lives, real resistance to the great purging. The force sent down, heroes of the war, as well as volunteers. They were, perhaps, the most haughty of the entire elven race, bordering on extreme xenophobia even before this happened, the change in their mission from rooting rats from holes into creating a permenant fighting force sent this group far over the edge. In time, the newly made Dark Elves have hardened their beliefs. Their xenophobia turned eventually to all surface races, even their surface brothers. Though they are not obsessed with destroying the surface elves, but rather, see themselves as the rightful rulers of the Elven Race, and have the means to achieve that. The advent of elemental portals to directly study has given the Drow frightfully powerful Elemental-based Magics, much like a combination of Druidic and Wizard magics. As well, they have learned to mine the metals from raw elemental portals, and forge them within the flames of elemental fire, resulting in a substance equal to, or perhaps superior to, the adamantium of other worlds, known as Planar Ore... Race specifics on Shale: Though a lot of this might already be inferred from the above, it's all specifically written here... Elves: the world is their plaything, the majority of Elves have several levels of wizardry, and even those that don't can usually afford to buy minor enchanted items to serve to similar effect. Poverty is almost unknown, and every elf can usually look forwards to a life of unparralleled ease. It's somewhat akin to the Roman Empire at it's height, or American now, with a great deal of Elves more concerned with their own personal pleasure than anything else. The Elven nations are a Magocracy, ruled by the first Sorcerors, and actually, the only Sorcerors in the Elven Nations. Nine original sorcerors appeared at one time far in the distant past to bring Magic to the Elves. It wasn't questioned at the time, the promise of what magic could mean to their world was more than enough to convince most not to ask questions. Even those that did were few and far between, now that only Elves even know of their existence, the situation is much the same really. rumors have still spread, that the First Sorceror's, to whom magic is innate rather than what can be learned of it that was taught to elves at large, are actually half or even full-fiends, for the power they brought. Since the Elves have only benefitted for centuries from their leadership, these rumors would have been largely ignored were it not for the fact that any lesser divination spell about any of them fails outright, and greater divination spells (contact other plane for instance) always end in either madness or death for the caster. The First Sorceror's each control a single section of Endalla, there are eight different sections (currently called magedom's because I haven't found a better name yet), the 9th once ruled by the leader of what is now the Dark Elves. The transition was made easier by the fact that the other sorceror's had already taken control on a temporary basis for the war effort. The level of involvement of the First Sorceror's is almost always reserved for issues affecting the entire race. Beyond that, a beaurocratic structure ruled by the most powerful Wizards in each given area. inheritance of positions governed by master to apprentice, with higher level officials capable of ousting lower ones and choosing a more suitable candidate if needs be. There are restrictions on this of course, but the level of corruption among the higher Echelons is surprisingly low, and the lower Echelons don't have enough power to be especially corrupt. The majority of public involvement of the Sorceror's being divination and elimination of corrupt higher level officials. The enviroment is very "Big Brother" esque... Humans are divided into three Distinct Tribes, each with a more or less identical governmental structure, crudely based on what existed before their lands were shattered in the Mage-wars. Basic Tribal leadership, a council of Elders to advise, etc. Sorcerors, when discovered, are often hidden away and told to never use their powers for fear of detection. Hence, most sorcerors are fairly low level, or exiled to the far reaches of the Human lands, where they either live as hermits, are hunted down and killed by humans fearful of their powers, or eventually find their way to Phoenix, where they join with the mysterious city... Occansionally, like has happened to create magical beasts in the ruins of human cities, a human mutant is born. These are fairly normal until their Sorcerous powers develop, at which point they usually explode with immense levels of power until they destroy themselves (think Akira). They are even more fearful than beasts because they've a sentient mind behind them, and are incredibly dangerous, but thankfully rare. Over the tribes closest to magically blasted ruins, a magical plague sometimes develops in those who spend too much time within (particularly noted in the Vennui tribe), which has demonstrated wildly chaotic effects.. From inducing Madness, to something resembling Mummy Rot, to causing a spontanious gain or suppression of sorcerous powers, Elves entering the ruins have actually been found to be even more vulnerable to the plagues. Dwarves at one time were the mightiest race, with a proficentcy with metalworking and technology, in a world without magic. They were never imperialistic enough to extend this dominance however, and that was their downfall... They were traders, supplying weapons to both the Elves and Humans for a great deal of time, mostly to aid them both in the traditional wars with orc and goblinkin. Already, they stayed mostly underground, wary of the Underdark races which, for the moment, only they knew of. It was actually the Dwarves which called on the Elves and their magical expertise to send the invading party which would eventually become the Drow. How they regret that mistake... It was during the Magewars that the Dwarves retreated underground, they had only self-preservation in mind, thinking that, perhaps, if they didn't present themselves as a threat, they would not be wiped out. They had seen the ease already demonstrated in breaking the Orcish race after all. Even still, a number of isolated clans were wiped out during the wars, each one on the personal order of a Sorceror, Cloudkill spells employed to deadly effect on nearly all of them.. Because of that however, former Dwarvern homes have become poisonous wastelands, the magical Fallout there taking on a particularly horrid cast. not the quick, fiery death of massive destruction, but the slow, lingering death of poison or starvation. The Governmental Structure of the Dwarves is almost entirely Clan-based, and not all that different from the standard vision of Dwarves you would see. Thanes rule their clans, but there is a great deal more communication than normal among the clans, the culture is a thick mesh, like chain mail as the dwarven saying goes. They haven't changed all that much in fact, from before the surface wars, it seems they may never change, never get with the times, if anything else, this will be their downfall. Halflings haven't even been considered so far, they live in their own small burrows, tolerated even by the Elves, mixing in with each of the other races, but have no specific sphere of influence.. Gnomes, largely, are Svirfenblin(spelling?) style, located deep among the Underdark, depending largely on their connections with Earth Elementals and Dao to survive, though some come upwards to live with the lower sections of Dwarven lands, none have been seen on the surface so far. Because of their connections to Elementals and such, Gnome Wizards actually exist. |