Races of the World

            Orcs are rare in the civilized lands. Most of the tribes were wiped out during The Great Purge about 150-200 years ago. There are some small clans and families of orcs living deep in the mountains and far from the civilized lands, but they are rarely encountered. They were mercilessly hunted down and killed by a joint effort of the elven, human, and dwarven nations after a great invasion of orcs about 300 years ago. The invasion, led by a clan of giants from the north, wasn't successful, but many orc clans stayed in the area instead of making the far trek back north to the cold mountains that they came from, finding the warm subtropical zones more to their liking. They were sometimes taken as slaves by the humans, but their evil nature usually made this a losing choice for both the orcs and the humans. When the Purge came, slaves were the first ones killed before the armies began hunting down the clans. As a result of the purge, orcs are very rare, and when encountered they are an evil primal race, think of evil neanderthals.

            Kobolds are neutral, more dog like than lizard like, although they do have some lizard traits. They tend to look like scaly dog men than anything else. They run in packs in the wild, although some have been domesticated and live with humans and other humanoids as servants or as entertainers.

            Goblins are a nuisance creature, running in large numbers during some years, invading and causing mayhem, and dying back in other years. Over the past few years, they have been in a recession, staying away from civilized lands while they wait for their number to start rising again.

            Gnolls are hunter/gatherers and scavengers, roaming the lands, settling in large encampments on occasion, but generally staying in their tribal groups. They are evil, and a fearsome foe when encountered.

            Halflings have 3 major groups: the traveling, gypsy halflings of 3rd edition D&D; settled hobbit-like halflings, farmers and townsfolk who tend to stay in one area; and the reclusive swamp folk who live deep in the bayou and don't take kindly to strangers trespassing on their lands, and will gladly loose the alligators on those who cross them.

            Elves have several subraces, but the most common in the area is the Wood Elf, due to a large settlement of the elves living somewhere in the forest to the southwest. The exact location of the community is unknown to those who do not live there, and the elves take great care not to allow anyone to find it. There are also a fair number of high elves in the cities, a few grey elves, and some wild elves in the area.

            Dwarves have two major strains in the area. The first is the typical mountain dwelling Hill Dwarf, with an underground kingdom and lots of mines and furnaces throughout the mountains to the northeast. The second subrace of dwarves is an offshoot who left the mountains and settled in the hills and on the plains, building large wooden palisades around their frontier-type towns. They farm, raise herds of oxen and buffalo, and trap game for food and trade. Think of them as the "cowboys" of the world.

            Humans are not the native race in this part of the world, but they settled here several hundred years ago from another continent. They have made most of the major settlements in the area, setting up the kingdoms in this part of the world. An Analogy would be North America in the mid 1700s, with humans being the setters in a foreign land, quickly taking over in a few hundred years and developing several kingdoms. They usually leave the dwarves and elves alone, and the other races do the same for them.

            Gnomes are rare, coming from across the far southern desert, they are a curiosity. Most folk think of gnomes as a offshoot of halflings or dwarves, not as their own race (this may or may not be true, far in the past).

            Half orcs are very rare, as there are few orcs left in the land. Half orcs would be heavily persecuted and possibly killed on sight by many people who couldn't differentiate them from regular orcs. See orcs info.

            Half Elves are uncommon, but do exist within both human and elven cultures.