The Humans:The humans dwell in a society which is a mixture of the medieval times not only of the Western World but also of the Middle Eastern and Far eastern, the society is a mixture of various colours and cultures, however, the humans are in no way further from any of the other races, although they are relatively the more influencing amongst the others. many realms have humans as the rulers some are Monarchs, some are appointed, but the there are many instances where the humans are the minority in a particular realm, in fact it is not much of a concern, the humans generally are moderately civilized, but there are no less criminals for that matter, be it barbarians, pirates or bandits, however by and large humans are fairly compatible all other races specially Dwarfs and Manticores, generally they are prejudices against cyclopes and the Gorgons and Elfs consider them to be upstarts, they are intelligent, brave warriors, good administrators and skillful craftsmen. In the archaic times, the human were divided into various feudalistic clans which created a distinct difference between them, the system was feudalistic as well as militaristic the clans were always close knit and the were honor bound to their Overlords, from the greatest knights to the wealthiest merchant to the poorest serf and would seldom betray them, this was changed after the great War that rocked the world and few of the clans betrayed the others , It was then a High King of all the men were proclaimed and all other clans proclaimed allegiance to him, slowly the distinctions faded and the clans became no longer visible, however, some who jealously did guard their clannish mentality and intense anger against those who abolished the age old clan system, bound themselves more fiercely within their clan boundaries, these in time evolved into anti-Establishmentary and anti-social elements, using their closed clans developed themselves into organised crime syndicates becoming formidable and very dangerous, there were the Raven, wolf, stag, bear, boar, hawk, crane, owl, otter and ram clans known as "Tols" in the ancient tongue.
As far as magic is considered Humans have a fairly large number of people compatible to magic, they are almost in the standards to that of the Dwarfs, although hey are not so susceptible to it as as compared to the Elves and Gorgons but much more than the Manticores and Cyclopes.
As far as magic is considered Humans have a fairly large number of people compatible to magic, they are almost in the standards to that of the Dwarfs, although hey are not so susceptible to it as as compared to the Elves and Gorgons but much more than the Manticores and Cyclopes.
The Dwarfs:The Dwarfs have perhaps the single most wide spanned kingdom, they are extremely centralized in everything they do, extremely secretive and they have hardly changed their customs deep within their Realm, they are the archetypal Dwarfs who live underground, their society is in a state of transition, slowly the centralized concept of the dwarfish culture is breaking and although a sizable portion of the population lives in one close knot community there are adventurous one's who are living elsewhere and also some are daring to live above ground permanently, although they have slowly started becoming more liberal, they however, are still considered to be a secretive race, they fare fairly well with he humans who have extensive trade relations with them, the Gorgons also keep a good relation with them, however, they distrust the Cyclops and consider the Giants to be a barbaric lot. The Dwarfs are excellent craftsmen and technologically adept more than all other races. They are perhaps the most scientifically advanced of all races, they are "the sons of Rock", as they call themselves. There are divisions in the Dwarfs' society, but basically they are divided in three sub classes, the smiths, the bulls and the clerics. The smiths include all the the ones who work with the metals, the craftsmen and the underground farmers(a specialized branch of agriculture only practiced by the dwarfs) and the miners all, belong to this class almost ninety nine percent of the smiths live permanently underground, although the other classes of dwarfs do all these things but they can not match the skill levels of the original smiths. the bulls are the warrior sect of the Dwarfs, however, they are not born but when they they enter into military systems they re initiated into the bulls, the smith/bulls become some of the best armorers and the most dreadful warriors as these are extremely proud of themselves and are habituated to the harshest of climates. the cleric/bulls are usually good planners and act as the administrators for their higher intelligence. The clerics are the ones with higher degree of intellect, they are the best inventors and scholars amongst the dwarfs, they are the ones who tend to learn magic than the other classes of dwarfs, however, it is never a rule that only clerics become better wizards.
Of the magical abilities, the dwarfs are great enthusiast s of magic although they never teach the others a lot of their secrets while greedily learning others'. This characteristic makes them take up a particular profession of wandering conjurers; healers; and selling magical artifacts. however they are more concerned about alchemy and related arts.
The Dwarfs are very careful about their money and are extreme misers and understands business very well.
Recently some Dwarfs have started living above ground but they are almost always either clerics or bulls or traders who buy and sell the dwarf made goods from realm to realm, the Dwarf kingdom is generally known as the Dwarf Kingdom as they never reveal the true name to outsiders as they claim it possess great protective magical potential.
The Elves:The Elves are the elder race of Aandurea, not in the chronological sense, but from the civilization point of view. The elves were the ancient rulers of all the lands, although it would be better to clear that this particular history is of that time after the devastating Archaic War that purged Aandurea of all recognition. The Elves were earlier of one single race but later they were divided into two, viz, the High Elves and the Wood Elves. However, when the Darkness started to rise the second time, the Elves were the most affected as they were the ones considered to be the biggest opposition to the Dark empire also in order to control and count on the help of the Gorgons, it was required by the dark emperor to destroy the elves as a force. They, were all but annihilated and the saddest part was none of the other races offered much help, in fact according to many thinkers, the fate of Aandurea rests heavily on the Elves' attitude towards the other races. The Elves are usually slender and tall as a race and have slanting rather delicate features, with very less or no facial hair and an air of agelessness whether or not that is the case. Their pointed ears give them feline capacity to hear, their slanted eyed allows them to possess night vision, their bodies seem to defy gravity to a certain extent, an aspect usually attributed to their magical tendency, allowing them to perform death defying stunts and acrobatics, with superhuman speed and agility their strength is also enhanced but that has to be achieved by the special regime of training specially developed by the Elven Warriors, in fact "one can match an Elf in strength, even surpass him, but not in speed"
Magically the Elves are most magically susceptible with perhaps the exception of the gorgons, in fact they are sometimes so very susceptible to it that it hinders their ordinary work, sometimes mutating them into extending their lives to an unimaginable extent(not all Elves are immortal!) also their psyches are effected as they become so invulnerable that they seem to lose the essence of life and to them they seem only to exist and nothing more. However for that they need to effectively control by rigorous training and intense meditating, however such kinds are relatively less in number, the elves are most likely to achieve the master mage status compared to the other races, magic draws the elves naturally and they consider magic to be just another of their natural talents.
The high Elves and the Wood Elves:
The high Elves lived in splendour and grandeur, they were obsessed with Building cities and humongous structures as a sign of their greatness, they were vicious and ruthless in battle, regarding emotions as a sign of weakness, they good rulers, but their intense pride made them look down upon the other races as uncivilized brutes and this extended even top their kins the Wood elves, who had embraced the simplicity of the woods. they were majestic in bearing and at one point of time, they had ruled almost all the reams of Aandurea, they were at constant war with the Gorgons, a race they considered to be barbaric and villainous, in fact the rise of the dark empire took place by destroying the high Elves almost totally, only a handful of them had to run away and save themselves in their hidden territory of the the unknown South Western regions. It was the vanity of the high Elves that brought about the fall of the High Elves and threw Aandurea into chaos, however it was the High Elves who started the first Rebel Resistance.The Wood elves, on the other hand, liked the simple life of the forest and lived in tree cities but they too, with their typical Elvish vanity considered them to be above all others, they considered them to the greatest poets and bards of all, but they were not as bad as the High Elves and during that devastating war although they were extremely affected they however found certain refuge with the Humans and Giants. These allowed them to in fact accept service under a human king,this was one of the only things which actually prevented them from being almost totally annihilated or go into hiding.
Both the Elves were, however, still pursued and any High elf if found were imprisoned, thus the High Elves were always seen in the open disguised as a Wood Elf as there is very little and subtle difference between the two and also the later are treated much better, in fact in Benegar(one of Aandurean Realms)
The Giants:
Chronologically speaking, the Giants are the eldest of all the seven races and also are the most neutral ones, they are rather dull and sluggish but posses extraordinary physical strength, they are also immune to a considerable amount of magic. they live in little villages, and live for the hunt, there have been many speculations regarding the history of the giants and it has been considered by many thinkers that the Giants were once a race of high intelligence and culture, which have deteriorated for some strange reason, this can be witnessed from the Ancient buildings and the ruins in the realms of Masoria and elsewhere scattered throughout a number of realms, the strange architecture and the lot!There are no known sub races amongst the Giants.
Magically they are the least adept in fact they are so inapt to magic that they actually repel it, thus some Giants do not get affected by magical forces.
The Gorgons:
The most influential race after the Humans in this age are the Gorgons, the Reptilian Folk, the Gorgons are not the sort of creatures of Earthen Mythologies, they are plain and simple humanoid Reptiles, with the same traits of the lizards, however, they are heightened in their skills and strength and although coldblooded race and are not at all home to cold climates their inherent magical capacities as a species, are capable to pretty well acclimatize themselves in the cold climates with a little bit of specialized training, they also do no go into hibernating and are extremely fast and slow at the same time in likeness to the reptilian species. They are by nature aggressive and are a warlike race. the Gorgons were the arch enemies of the Elves, the Gorgons had always fought with the Elves for gaining dominance over the realms of Aandurea, and they had only managed to do so in the deepest of rain forests and the harshest of deserts, where the Elves did not take particular interest in, however, their enmity remain restricted towards the high Elves and they are not as hostile towards the Wood Elves. The Gorgons are as a race also extremely prone towards magic and it almost comes naturally to them, but the problem is although as a race they are magically prone, there are , however, not very many very powerful magic users amongst them, although the ones who do attain master status, they go on to become excessively powerful. The Gorgons have been patronized a lot by the dark empire ans most of imperial military is dominated by the Gorgons, they are smart and can act at a moments notice and their natural ruthlessness make them great soldiers. Earlier there were four sub races of gorgons, the Earthen tribe, the Airy tribe, the Watery tribe and the Fiery tribe, long back in the mists of past there was strife amongst these four clans and the Watery tribe that ruled then was totally destroyed, the Airy tribe was almost wiped off as they were the closest allies to the Airy tribe, the fiery Tribe won and went on to populate the world as the the Dominant Gorgon races, nowadays, only sometimes the other sub races may be seen amongst the predominant fiery tribe. Excepting certain physical distinctions, there are hardly any differences amongst the Gorgon sub races.
The Manticores:
The feline men who have great similarities with the lions are called the Manticores, the Children of the Woods. they are tall and muscular as a race and possess the unique skills of a lion heightened to almost super normality, they are extremely agile strong and have almost extra sensory perception due to their higthtened senses. This made them extremely good for tracking and fighting, in fact they hie themselves out as mercenaries, however, this is the present scenario, the Manticores, belying their formidable appearances are pretty gentle creatures , only their beastly looks betrays their true nature, the Manticores are extremely brave, but have always suffered a lot due to constant misunderstanding, that they are intelligent beings and are intellectually well endowed is something which not many believe, in fact they were always considered to be something as a menial labor class, only a handful of them had ever been given any job of importance, in fact they had always been used as ordinary infantry and nothing but their superior strength have been used in various wars. During the time of elves too the Manticores were treated with contempt and when the dark empire rose , it too did not trust the Lions(Manticores are often called so), as the emperor realized that the Manticores where too much honor bound and noble to become mindless slaves, in fact, ironically the Emperor, was perhaps one of the very few individuals who had fully understood the extent of the Manticores' capacity, owing to his obvious wisdom, he however saw them as a threat and thus during the reign of the dark empire the Manticores were actually treated as animals and were hunted down, in fact if the high elves had taken the assistance of the Manticores perhaps the dark empire would not have risen altogether, as an army consisting solely of humans, half trained could never defeat the combined military genius of the Manticores and Elves. the Manticores were thus hunted and they started living in even more secret, although with time the zeal with which the empire pursued the Manticores lessened they kept living in seclusion and secrecy and the few Manticores were only allowed were thje one who were slaves of any other race.
Magically the Manticores show very infrequent, only a very few of them are magically compatible, and evn it comes only those disciplines related closely to nature can only be mastered by them, they are hardly any master mages amongst them. they are almost equal to the cyclopes however they do not have much place of supertitions in their lives unlike the Cyclope
The Cyclopes:
The Cyclopes are the hordes of Aandurea and these one eyed being makes up alarge part of the army of the dark Empire, the Cyclopesa re a nomadic race and they live in hordes, they are strong and extremely good shooters owing to the concentration they can muster in their single eye! However their's is a society riddled with all sorts superstitions and rituals. they are also very good horsemen and skilled breedersa nd herders, infact that was the primary occupation of this race, before the Emperor extended his hands towards them to make them his minions and serve him to the fullest, in return he destroyed the the Giants, Dwarfs and the Manticores, who shared their pastures and forests. being naturally very aggressive and their lust for power makes them an invaluable force to muster also something dreadful that had happend a few centuries ago further helped the Emperor in his schemes. Earlier the Cyclopes were didvide into tw casses, the Seers and the Herders. The seers were the elite and more sofisticated of teh lot as they were granted the very rare nature gift of foresight, this ability made them naturaly prone towards magic also these made them the leaders of the clans and hordes. however, the gift was generally hereditary and as time passed by the gifted ones became the lethargic and occassionally arrogant aristocrats, and nobles, who started considering themselves to be higher than teh rest and thus master of the clans, if ti was in some other races this might have worked in other races but not amongst the Cyclopes, the Herders as they were called amassed against the seers who were negligible in number and they were mercilessly slaughterdonly it is said that none survived, the roots of the Seer families were torn apart and burnt to the ground and the ashes scattered in the four winds after which the Riders rode forth, however, one survived and he took refuge witha nearby manticore Lord who being typically noble being attacked the Cyclopes to punishthem and was brutally slaughterd in front of the huge numbers of Cyclopes amassed to stuff justice int the bowels of the now late Seers.this started the war of thew Manticores and the Cyclopes, which never quite finished, then when the Emperor took his claim over the Cyclopes over the entire Cyclopes Hordes by defeating five of their most terrible warlords he used their htred towards the manticores hunting them down like beasts.
Magically there are very few Cyclpoes wizards, this is because they had already destroyed the class who exclusively producerd the magic users. due to this the ones who were magical only had very limited powers. This also led to the rise of the shamans the mostly fraud wzards among the Hordes and these people reverted back to the ancient forms of magic od raising demons and that sort glory. Although technically they are almost as much magically attuned to as the manticores.
Other than these seven races there are are the horrendous creations of the Emperial Necromancers which almost attributed towards a different race altogether...
The Undead:-
These were the poor beings who were brought from the battle fields either dead half-dead or alive and were infused with the dark magic of the imperial Necromancers who used tham as forces and shock troops against the various battles. The Werewolves were the ones who were commomn soldiers fatally injured but not yet dead, scavanged from the battlefields and turned into wolfish monsters, they were deadly and impervious to pain. The Empire used these to track them down as hounds while hunting manticores.
The Zombies were the dead soldiers who were infused with spells to walk and fight senselessly in command.
The magic users caught alive were excruciatingly tortured and convertd into vampires who were impervious to direct magical attacks and were also able to draw thwe life force by using certain spells , they could also fly and commanded the undead army, however the amount of vampires were very less and they could not fight by the day!
The Talking Beasts:-
Other than these a very peculiar thing had happende in the wild wastes of Ruined Tumilnia, there was, in the prehistoric times a great magical war which had generated so much raw thaumic energy it mutated the animals living there the magical had an amazing effect on the field creatures there the Hares, squirrels, otters, toads, mice, hedgehogs, moles and badgers were drastically changed gaining size and human intelligencea nd the power of speech. These developed their own feudal system and continued their own path of evolution byt he time the first Wizards dared ventured there, however these did not take much interest on the other races and adjusted well enough when a handful of humans and a smal colony of Trader and Bull Dwarves settled there and they interacted quite freely with them.
Magically noe of these creatures were effective only except a very few of the hedgehogas who showed a very li8mited abilty towards magic. i t has been argued that the magical mutation has altered them so much that their capacity to contain magic and channeli s gone! However, evolution and intelligence are the factors of channeling magic and thus very limited magical access is granted to them.
Of the Wizards, they are not a different race but a conglomeration of magic users from all the races other than the Giants.........
