Humanity

Humans are a sentient species known for their invention of agriculture and widespread diaspora. The vast majority of Humans live on Aebrirea, with scattered smaller populations on the Second World and out on distant habitable worlds. Humanity has two subspecies: Ogres and Äegridas.

## Biology

Humans are a sentient species of mammals with two arms and two legs. They are not especially strong, armored or otherwise physically dangerous, but they are very enduring, intelligent and adaptable. Humans are sexually dimorphic, with males larger and stronger on average and females bearing and nursing young. They are omnivorous, mainly feeding on certain types of plant matter and the meat of animals.

## History

### The Garden and the Exodus of Men

Humanity was born from the love of Askr and Embla in the Garden of Men within the Unseen. They were fleshed from the bark and ichor of the World-Tree and are connected to it in a way no other race is. The first generations of Humanity grew within the Garden, but they could not be content with its confines for long.

Humanity would be freed by the Dream Canidae. The mischievous hounds saw in freedom-loving Humanity a kinship and offered to guide them out of the Garden. The Pact of Freedom bound the two species to friendship and to help each other to freedom for all of time to come. Many humans took the hounds up on their offer, but this Exodus inadvertly shattered the Garden and saw the Tree fling Humanity wildly across Creation.

Many of these human populations did not survive the inhospitable worlds they found themselves in. Harsh environments and the laws of the rigid Seen disheartened and wore down many humans. Even so, with the fruits of the Garden and the blood of Askr and Embla hot in their veins, Humanity survived this chaotic scattering and began to build new lives out in the Seen.

### Early Diaspora

Humans who were scattered to the Hot Lands would soon settle under Embla's guidance in a fertile volcanic valley thereafter known as Emblatha. Seeds and saplings of the Garden proved a blessing for the soil. Many humans also chose to settle among native Myridna and Baólian populations. In the Arken Lands, humans founded the settlement of Askrheimr and began to put down roots largely on the shores of the Sea of Shadows between the two continents. Like in Emblatha, the fruits of the Garden made Askrheimr a place of plenty and lush growth.

Humans in the Sky Lands and the Clouded Lands faced harsher welcomes without the guidance of their progenitors, but began to clear homes for themselves over time. Ogres also first began to appear in this time.

Askrheimr grew in peace until a band of Baólian heroes arrived at its gate in search of the Twilight Arc, a divine weapon wielded by the human heroine Sigren the Fury. Battle between the two races was averted with the arrival of the Laughing-Death-of-Hope, the Beast-God of the Ziggurat, which brought both sides together to fight as one. In the aftermath of the Battle of Askrheimr, arklanders and Baólians swore eternal friendship over the blood shed together.

### Agricultural revolution and growth

Meanwhile, humans in the Hot Lands experimented with plant cultivation, eventually developing rudimentary agriculture and changing life on Aebrirea forever. The first cultivated plants were wild millet and rice, peas, lentils, date palms, citrus trees and figs, among others. As masters of the Art of Growing, humans soon became vital agricultural specialists among the peoples of the Hot Lands.

In the Age of the Second Planet, Humanity was gifted with the twin Arts of Vividry and Refutation. Firelander humans soon had to grapple with the devastating Years of Ash and the War of Ash, leaving Emblatha in a vulnerable place in the power struggle between the Mountain Kingdom and the Federation of Horns. In the aftermath, Embla used the Staff of the Stone Dancer to remake the settlement as the first true city, protected by the Green Wall and empowered by mystical architecture. Innovations in agriculture further accelerated the city's growth and population. This allowed Emblatha to become an independent polity in its own right in the Hot Lands.

The following decades saw Humanity gifted with the Lesser Trees of Life and the Äegridas. In the Sky Lands, the human Dagrún was gifted with influence over the Nepheles, spirits of air and wind. This union laid the foundations of the settlement of Vindskálir, the House of Winds.

### In the late Time of Creation

In Western Arka, the influence of the Prophet and his successors saw the Druyul turn increasingly to slavery to fuel their expansion. Humans became one of the main targets for such slave raids, leading to frequent conflicts in the following centuries. This period also saw the rise of the Hollow King in the Clouded Lands, with many human tribes falling under the tyrant's banner. The War for the Hive Coast saw humans fight on both sides of the conflict.

In Emblatha, the Ogre Hródr Greatgirth succeeded in stealing Mother Embla right from the heart of the city with the aid of Ogre infiltrators. Though he was caught and killed, Embla suffered grievous physical and spiritual wounds at his hands. She would depart Emblatha in the aftermath and voyage to her beloved Askr in Askrheimr.

In this time, humans also migrated to the Second World in small numbers, largely assimilating to the cultures of native races. The coming of the Black Plague soon devastated human populations in Stromhiem and the Clouded Lands, essentially eradicating human civilization on the former continent.

Humans fought against the First Draghai Invasion of the Hot Lands. With the collapse of the Federation of Horns, Emblatha has become one of the strongest powers on the continent. Humans in the northern parts of the continent have largely fallen under the rule of the Iron Principality of Kerong-Jast, with many enslaved and shipped to Western Arka for work.

## Society

Human tribes tend to be roughly egalitarian, with low social hierarchies. Humans love all growing things and tending to nature, and as such usually make their homes in forests and woodlands. They were the first to invent agriculture and tend to be famed for their skills as growers and farmers. All humans share a love of freedom and vibrant imaginations. Humans can be found on every continent and on almost every habitable world thanks to their diaspora, which flung human populations across the cosmos. For many other species, the stereotypical human is a simple, good-natured and green-thumbed dreamer provoked only by insults to their crop and produce.

Humans possess an innate connection to the World Tree that nursed them and fed them in the childhood of the species. They are often found with Dream Canidae, who they have a primordial pact of friendship with. Humanity also greatly respect Baólians since they fought side by side in the primordial Battle of Askrheimr.

The father and mother of the human race are Askr and Embla, two demigods born of divine wood from whose love all ancestors of Humanity have sprung. While Askr is scarcely diminished after the passing of centuries, Embla has been greatly weakened after being fed upon by the Ogre Hródr Greatgirth. As humans have multiplied and new generations have come into being, the divine power in their flesh and blood has gradually weakened and grown thinner. Strong bloodlines may retain more of Askr and Embla's strength, affinity with nature and long life than others.

## Magic

Humans are particularly skilled with the magics of Vividry and Refutation, which were granted as gifts to their species. They feel a draw to the Unseen, where their birthplace once lay - many seek to enter or commune with it during their lives. Narrative magics such as Legend and Artistry appeal to the boundless imagination of humans.

## Human Cultures

### Arklanders

Humans in the Arken Lands are known as shadeborn, arklanders or Askrheimrians. Most arklanders live in scattered bands and small tribal polities around the coasts of the Sea of Shadows. Some live with the Sura, either as free inhabitants or as slaves. Many humans have also been enslaved by the Druyul of western Arka, the root of deep and bitter hatreds.

#### Askrheimr

The island settlement of Askrheimr between the dual continents is the cultural and spiritual heart of arklander humanity, founded and ruled over by the demigod Askr alongside his wife Embla. Embla spends most of her time in seclusion, suffering from unhealing spiritual and physical wounds at the hands of the Ogre Hródr Greatgirth. Askrheimr is a place of natural splendour, blessed by soil and seeds from the Garden of Men.

#### Society

Important rituals in the lives of arklanders take place at the Lesser Tree of Life in Askrheimr, or around mundane imitations of it raised in smaller settlements. Bowls of ichor are gifted to those who grow into adulthood, give birth, plant their first sapling, bond with a Dream Canidae companion, master a magic, or accomplish any number of other milestones in the lives of Askrheimr's people. Äegridas live in Askrheimr, rarely venturing outside the settlement, and are known to be under the personal protection of Grandmother Embla.

Arklanders love competitions and contests of various kinds. They take such things seriously, though skillful and entertaining cheating is seen as just as valid as honest effort. Arklanders prize cleverness and wit, with many of their Legends tricksters of some sort.

The Furies are warrior women from Askrheimr who follow in the footsteps of Sigren the Fury, a Legendary hero of the arklanders. They are devoted to freeing humans from enslavement and killing slavers. Furies teach their craft, including their knowledge of the Chainbreaker's Cant, to apprentices in lifelong master-student pairs. They seek the Twilight Arc, a great weapon once wielded by their progenitor and long since lost to the world.

#### Religion

Arklander humans are often worshippers of Yggdrasil, Brusoil, Kronals, Aekidir, the Teller of Tales, the Heart of Song, the Star Maiden, the Whisper, Loppu Sinfonia, Katha the Many, Kharneth, the Wayfarer, Zorox Unslaad and Ikari. A newly planted tree or plant is usually dedicated to a patron deity of choice. Arklanders are rarely devoted to just one god, and may shift their allegiance according to their needs and situation in life.

### Firelanders

Humans of the Hot Lands are known as ashborn, firelanders or Emblathans after Grandmother Embla and the Green City. Most ashborn humans live in settled or semi-nomadic tribes around the continent or live together with Myridna and Baólian populations. Other races treasure humans for their green thumbs, with humans generally forming an agricultural specialist class within their communities.

#### Emblatha

The city of Emblatha is the cultural and spiritual heart of humanity on the continent. The city also holds the greatest population of humans in the world; over a hundred thousand souls and rising with the enduring blessings of fertility and growth.

Emblatha is the greatest city in the world. Though they have lost their mother and queen Embla after Hródr Greatgirth's abduction, the Green City endures and thrives. The City is located in a fertile valley of volcanic ash seeded long ago with saplings and seeds from humanity's birth-home. The soil is exceptionally bountiful even after centuries of farming. The slopes of the valley are thick with vineyards, rice paddies, fields and groves feeding the City's enormous population.

Emblatha is surrounded by the legendary Green Wall, fashioned with the Staff of the Stone Dancer and by skilled labor to be both sturdy and beautiful. Its towers incorporate esoteric designs and mystical architecture to fuel the magic of its defenders. The inside of the walls is a mastercraft of organic-feeling order, with curving streets forming concentric circles and leaf-like shapes. Each building is further shaped and designed to strengthen the City's mystical architecture.

Vine-wreathed houses with roofs like slender leaves run in rings of orchard-lined streets. Rooftop gardens cast fragrant scents over the city. Under the earth, elaborate warrens house the city's Myridna. A grand central market in the welcome shade of high date palms is frequented by visitors and traders from all around. The River Graetrán, which runs through the valley, is crossed by bridges of natural shaped stone and its cool waters collected and channeled further for drinking, irrigation and communal baths in the heart of the city. A Dungeon built by Monument Makers exists underneath the city.

In the heart of the city is the Garden-Temple, dedicated to Yggdrasil, which houses one of the two Lesser Trees of Life and bountiful mundane plant life besides. Its priesthood guards access to the Tree, for its restorative ichor is reserved only for the sick and the wounded in Emblatha. They also watch over the Äegridas and raise them within the Temple grounds. Embla's old dwelling has been turned into a shrine to the Green Mother, the Myth-empowered divinity born of Embla.

The City is a center of learning rivaled perhaps only by the White University of Wisdom on the Hive Coast. Practically every kind of magic can be found and studied here, though organized schools only exist for a few. Actually finding a trustworthy teacher among Emblatha's thousands is tricky indeed.

#### Society

Emblathan settlements tend to be built in circular patterns around central granaries and gardens. Äegridas, the Daughters of the Trees, are given positions of comfort and secluded in special temples both to honor them and to limit the influence of their pheromones on others. Emblathans consider themselves more learned, sophisticated and cosmopolitan than other strains of humanity.

Emblathans are equally known for their cuisine. A particular delicacy is volcano pepper – which grow on Volcanic Flora and burn the mouth and warm the whole body when consumed. It is prized greatly and traditionally eaten outside in Midwinter festivities, where its effects entirely banish any chill and cold.

#### Religion

Aside from Yggdrasil and the Green Mother, Emblathans also are particularly devoted to Brusoil, the Heart of Song, Fiel, the High Moon Holder, the Star Maiden, Lazat, Zorox Unslaad and Vathys. YORCTOL also has followers among firelanders.

### Skylanders

Skylanders are human populations living in the floating islands of the Sky Lands. They are not an unified culture, as many islands are isolated with little chance for their inhabitants to move between them. They share some traits, however, such as an even greater love of freedom than what is found among ground-dwelling humanity. Skylander tribes and settlements tend to have no leaders or privileged elites, but are rather organized and led communally. Children are also raised by the community as a whole, with little importance given to who their parents are. The bloodline of the Wood Stalker has spread across skylander populations. Those bearing the gifts of the Elemental Bloodline live as anyone else in their tribes and bands.

Skylanders have a troubled relationship with the Sky-Ants of Rumtamat and other flying hives of its kind. Most Sky-Ants live a viciously piratical lifestyle, which includes raiding and extorting skylanders. Those hives willing to trade and bargain do present a rare opportunity for skylanders to leave their native islands and see the world, however. Some skylanders have even joined Sky-Ant crews themselves.

#### Vindskálir

Vindskálir, the House of Winds, is the largest human settlement in the Sky Lands. It is inhabited by descendants of Dagrún, who was gifted with the power to influence the wind spirits Nepheles. Nepheles still enjoy the company of Vindskálir's humans, though they are not innately bound to obey or listen to them. Nepheles pull sky-barges of the Dagrúnites, one of the few ways skylander humans have of leaving their home islands.

#### Religion

Skylanders hold the gods Yggdrasil, Brusoil, Kronals, the Heart of Song, the Star Maiden, Katha the Many, the Wayfarer and Zorox Unslaad in special esteem.

### Beastlanders

Humans living in the Clouded Lands are known as beastlanders or cloudborn. They are found across the continent, with the largest concentrations found on the Hive Coast. The human population has still not fully recovered from the shock of the Black Plague and decades of war.

#### Society

Outside the Hive Coast, humans tend to live as slaves or subjects of various warlords and monsters. Independent human bands are generally warlike and wary of outsiders to survive on a harsh and monster-infested continent. As a result, human culture and values in the Clouded Lands are often more hierarchical, brutal and cynical than elsewhere. Dream Canidae bonding with beastlander humans often take on a more savage aspect as well.

Regardless, beastlander humans have great respect for the Sea-Ants of the Hive Coast. The ruins of fallen Hives on the Coast are taboo and off-limits to many bands and tribes out of respect for the fallen beacon of civilization on the continent. Human legends center around the War for the Hive Coast and the Battles of Tamvatra, with many chiefs claiming Legendary grandfathers or grandmothers from either side of that battlefield.

Beastlanders are famed for their skill at taming some monsters, including wyverns. Wyvern-riding marauders can sometimes range as far as the Hot Lands and Stromhiem in search of plunder and loot. Beastlander chiefs seek to win a wyvern mount for themselves to strengthen their authority. Most wyverns tamed by beastlanders are semi-feral dwarf wyverns, but daring youths and ambitious chiefs will occasionally attempt to tame a wild high or cliff wyvern instead.

Beastlander cuisine is also heavily rooted in the meat and organs of monsters, which are believed to bestow a portion of their might upon their consumer.

Beastlanders often send gifted youths to study at the White University of Wisdom, though they value practical and martial magics such as Vigor cultivation over more esoteric pursuits.

#### Religion

Beastlanders worship the gods, with bloody sacrifices thought to be the most appropriate way of doing so. Most commonly, they serve the gods Yggdrasil, Kronals, Aekidir, the Hollow God, Vanti, Azrull, the Whisper, the Ember, Loppu Sinfonia, Lazat and Zorox Unslaad.

## Notable Humans

* Askr: The Father of Humanity, a demigod and one of the two firstborn humans.
* Embla: The Mother of Humanity, a demigoddess and one of the two firstborn humans.
* Sigren the Fury: A Legendary human heroine, companion of the Dream Canidae Shimmerer and first bearer of the Twilight Arc.
* Solvig: A Legendary human adventurer blessed with a telepathic bond to the Dream Canidae Gossamer.
* Liv Olafsdotter: A Legendary human hero and monster hunter.
* Dagrún: A human blessed with influence over the Nepheles and founder of Vindskállir.
* Skrýmir: A human master of the Art of Refutation.
* Rune: A Legendary human hero and champion of the Gate of Trials.
* Ingra: The leader of the Great Slave Revolt against the Draghai Druyul and killer of
* Bjrór: A warlord in the service of the Hollow King and commander of human forces in the War for the Hive Coast.