Races of Allevent

[Wrenn]

DYRUMA

The Dyruma are a strange amalgamation of man, beast and fowl, with their slit-nostril snouts, feathered manes and hands and feet tipped with talons. They have muscular tails with ends covered in a fan of feathers, which are used for balance, combat and even dexterous tasks. Their skin can be any color and often has patterns or designs on it. Lithe yet muscular, they are a fairly strong species yet are more built for speed and agility than strength.

The Dyruma are a widespread race. Some live among the treetops in forests, some live as huntsmen on plains, while others are content to live in cities. Most live in wilder areas and tend to dislike living in crowded places. Generally they are a nomadic people rather than settlers.

The Dyruma are famous for their good-humored nature. They are a reserved and polite with strangers but with people they know they are friendly and loyal. They are quick of wit and intelligent. Honest and fair, they dislike lying and cheating. They believe in reincarnation, and so strive to live a noble life to be rewarded in the next. While Dyrumas are a friendly people they can be violent, and prove themselves by fighting. They can be a bit hot headed and do not take insults well. Determined and at times stubborn, if a Dyruma makes up his or her mind it can be hard to change it.

ELVES (from BlackIceRocker)

Elves are an ancient wood-dwelling race, living in small nomadic groups called clans. They are a long-lived people; most members live to see 800-1000 years. Elves resemble humans with long pointed ears and fair skin, and are so slender they almost seem too fragile to be alive. What they lack in physical strength they make up for with agility, stealth, and cunning. Many are expert hunters and their skills with the bow are legendary. As rare as they are, elixer-born elves find themselves gravitating toward studying alumen and cuprum-based magics.

Elves view themselves as protectors and guardians of the forests—they will not hesitate to defend it against intruders that would do it harm, at any cost. While not inherently militaristic, young elves interested in combat will seek professions that capitalize on their strengths, such as archery or medicine. Outside of the military many take up a craft; whether it be woodworking, leatherworking, herbalism or anything else they can utilize in the forest, almost every elf takes up some sort of craft in which they wish to become proficient. A rare few end up learning about the wonders of alchemy and artificing, having seen such devices for themselves and finding a strange beauty in the wonders of these technologies.

Elves feel a calling to nature and work to help promote a sustainable relationship with the earth; however, some find a calling in wandering the lands and spend a portion of their lives travelling across the continent. Such elves are known as “vagabonds”, and the length of a vagabond’s travels can vary between individuals. Some vagabonds spend only a few years travelling the world; others may spend decades or even centuries exploring the realms, spending time in settlements of other races to study and improve interracial relations. Elves that stay with their clans may develop xenophobic tendencies, while vagabonds almost always develop an accepting personality, which makes for interesting interactions with travelers in clans with both.

FREHIUS (from Equilibrium)

A once-powerful race whose history in Allevent was deeply entwined with that of mankind, but short lifespans and low fecundity have slowly reduced their numbers and their influence. With their innate affinity with the time caith plumbum, the Frehius were once honored as great advisers and watchers over Allevent, known as the Seers of the Dead for their ability to see the end of a man's life thread in the skein of destiny. As this feature came to be coveted by the other races the Frehius took to hiding in their small utopia in the Valley of the Lost.

The Frehius ability to see into the future is not seen as a gift as much as a curse, for the future is a nebulous, inchoate realm of possibility and to pin down one such thread for examination takes so much energy and life out of their seers that they generally live to the age of 25 at most. Their existence is also greatly shortened if a perceived alteration of fate should occur that would possibly change the course of the world itself.

GYPTIOI (from Manic Creator)

A small rural country named Anirom is the original home to Gyptioi, a race of fortune-tellers, dancers and thieves. The humans of Anirom see these 'gypsies' as filth and have tried to clear them from their country, but despite their travelling nature the Gyptioi have a connection to the land that has not been broken. They are looked down upon by many human societies whether in Anirom or abroad, although most kingdoms tolerate their presence provided they keep moving.

The Gyptioi are rather human in appearance, although generally have a slighter build and duskier features. They depart completely from humans with their exotic hair, which comes in a wide variety of colors that seems to be dependent on the year, month and even day of their birth. Because of this the Gyptioi are quite observant of the sun, moon and wandering stars, which makes their elixers among the more innately powerful in Allevent.

Within the Gyptioi society there is a small but powerful sect known as the Komuth -- a cult that searches the land for the dark caith kobold and bismuth, which they personify and worship as dark gods. The Gyptioi further alienate humans with their fascination with sin -- Gyptioi born on certain days are branded with the sin of their group, and are raised accordingly. The wrathful become their warriors; the proud become their smiths; the envious become their thieves, &c.

HULDREFOLK

A barbarian race to the far north, the huldrefolk are a hardy mountain people with little by way of natural resources or technology, and were more inclined to loot and pillage for wealth during frequent southern raids throughout their history. Although too resilient and resourceful to be driven fully from their formidable mountainous homeland, in recent generations the huldrefolk have suffered devastating losses and now their raids are all-but-forgotten except by those who've made their homes in the foothills just south of the mountainside.

Ranging in size from 6'6" to 8" tall and up to 350lbs, even the smallest huldrefolk are absolutely hulking compared to other races, and their strength and endurance is legendary. With their thick, hard skin that is impervious to all but the stoutest of thrusts the huldrefolk do not wear much armor beyond furs and hide. From the viewpoint of the fairer races of Allevent their features are rather blunted and ugly -- skin of brown or gray hues, huge ears, noses and lips, with small eyes sunken beneath a jutting brow, and a scalp topped with coarse black hair.

While there is alumen aplenty in these mountains the huldrefolk do not know how to harvest it and don't know its worth to the kingdoms to the south. Elixers are unknown among this race, or at least those who've learned to manipulate caith, but for such a warlike people perhaps this is best.

Women huldrefolk are rare, but are larger, stronger and longer-lived than the men, often ruling for life as the leader of a small tribe or family. The men do virtually all of the hunting, fighting and work and so it is not peculiar that the women are so infrequently seen by other races.

HUMANS

The most populous of the races, Humans have over the centuries slowly and steadily carved their dominance into nearly every corner of Allevent, and aside from a few exceptions maintain a presence even where they are not the most predominant race. While in many tragic cases throughout their history this expansion is the result of outright war and conquest, the overwhelming reasons for man's ubiquity are his curiosity, sense of adventure, adaptability and drive. It is a general mindset among humans, and not altogether without merit, that they look forward while other races look back.

Although humans may not be as attuned to the land as other races, and therefore their elixers aren't known for their innate strength, they are at the forefront of alchemy (the process of creating stable caith crystals) and wrighting (fashioning machines and devices that utilize caith crystals). The virtual monopoly that humans have on alchemy and wrighting, have further made humans the most powerful and advanced race in Allevent.

Because of their wide-ranging presence it is impossible to say what their customs and beliefs are, because in many instances one society can be largely dissimilar to another. However, in the last hundred years or so (in what human historians are now calling the Modern Era), the sudden explosion in quality of life, the increase in leisure time and newfound ease of travel have all been slowly working to make human society a rather large 'melting pot,' both for humans and for all other races of Allevent. In fact, although it is still exceedingly rare, some governments have begun granting citizenship to members of other races, and it isn't unheard of to see members of other races holding positions of power in human society.

QI'JHARIIHL (from Igari)

The Qi'jhariihl are better known as "book-eaters" in common tongue, due to their dependence on knowledge instead of food for sustenance. The rarer and more ancient an object is, the more a book-eater can absorb from it and the longer he or she can live. Because of this, and the unique ability some Qi'jhari have to efficiently catalog and retrieve their absorbed information, the book-eaters are prized as companions and guides for treasure hunters and other expeditions due to their wealth of knowledge. Like several other races in Allevent the Qi'jhariihl rather resemble smaller, lighter humans -- the chief difference is their ability to choose an age and appearance and maintain it provided consistent feedings.

SYLPH (from AxelZero93)

In some human societies there is a nigh-forgotten legend that thousands of years ago there was an empire of godlike beings known as the Sylph, who descended to the mortal realm to perform miracles and work wonders for humanity, turning Allevent into a paradise. When the humans began to covet this power for themselves the Sylph disappeared from the land and removed their blessings, leaving humans as little more than savages once more.

While there is a kernel of truth to the myth, as there is with any good legend, the sylph are not godlike beings but are simply another race on Allevent. They make their home in the Sky Islands -- masses of land so infused with the wind caith stannum that they float free high above the rest of Allevent, forever secluded in dense impenetrable clouds. The sylph's long isolation in this environment has given them a high rate of affinity with stannum: virtually all sylph elixers have an affinity with the wind caith.

The sylph did once interact with humans in the distant past, although not as descending gods from on high. The races coexisted for generations -- humans were the more primitive, the more grasping, while sylphs were more advanced and gracious, often acting as healers, mediators and advisers for the foundling race. Here the legends echo the truth: as humans rose in power and began their steady encroachment across the lands, the far-seeing sylphs knew that it was only a matter of time before their peaceful race would have to enter in conflict with the humans. So they withdrew contact, wholly disappearing virtually over night -- to remain secluded in the Sky Islands for the benefit of both races.

As a sister race to humans, sylphs are virtually indistinguishable except for their white hair and slender builds.

VERE (from unseenshadow2)

From the small island Vera, the Vere are a wolf-like race known for their resilience and strength. They range from 6'6" to 8' in height and are thin with dense muscle. While the vere do not build extra muscle as a human would, their physical strength is shown by a darkening of the fur in a given area. The vere thrive in even extreme cold and are also somewhat resilient to ambient heat, although lengthy exposure to direct sunlight can cause heat exhaustion. Wolf-like in many ways, the vere have heightened hearing and sense of smell, although their eyesight is rather poor. With their high endurance and speed the vere can run for miles without flagging, but their heavy frames of dense muscle are not agile.

Vere fur grows rudimentary caith shards over time, from one caith-type for each vere. Although a dim shadow compared to true caith crystals, these shards can be used by a vere elixer or sold to human alchemists for further refinement, and are a source of wealth for the otherwise resource-poor island of Vera.

Vere are a kind, trusting, and accepting race, although dogged [couldn't resist ^^] enemies once provoked, in which case they can be quite vicious and cruel. Vere value truth and honor, reflected by their government -- the Alpha Nexus. The Alpha Nexus is a hierarchy of alpha vere who have gained their positions through examples of honest and honorable living, and punishment for breaching these codes is death.

XIPHREIM (from Igari)

The Xiphreim race originates from the forest itself, but as they saw the spreading human influence, these creatures chose to emulate their appearance. Their true forms are said to be a spectacle of nature, and the origin of human myths such as dryads, nymphs, fae, youkai or animal spirits. The Xiphreim can take on their original forms within the confines of their forest, and it is considered a great honor if they allow one outside of their tribe to see it.

They are a peaceful race for the most part, but are not to be trifled with when their forest is endangered. Solitude and meditation in their forest homes has strongly attuned the Xiphreim to the living caith cuprum. Tribes are dictated on animal affinity, for instance felines will typically group together, canines will also form groups, reptiles, etc. Not all of these creatures have an animal affinity -- only those that are elixers can tap into that rare division and at that, only those that wield cuprum.

The few members of Xiphreim's that are elixers generally are associated with two types of caith: aurum and cuprum. Those associated with aurum typically have more spiritualistic healing abilities and, in some cultures, may be regarded as shaman or priests. Cuprum elixers have a much stronger affinity to nature and can literally "hear the call of the wild." They tend to stay away from those that don't naturally reside in their forest and can quickly sense intruders. These cuprum elixers become "summoners," who can call upon animal companions. The primary companion will go on to oversee them from birth, a kinship only adapted for Cuprum elixers within the tribe. The primary summon will always be the Xiphreim's strongest and most loyal and it is very unheard of to be able to summon further.

[unseenshadow2]

This post needs updated.