The Races of Degom

Races

A medium-sized creature prone to great ambition. Humans have proliferated so widely, with their cultural memory so short that there is little one can say to generalise. As follows are the dominant groups.

*Folk of the North:* Fair of skin, dark eyed and exclusively flaxen haired. Former nations were Skend Tavushia and Axland. Currently reside in southern Arbea. Close friends to dwarves and foes of the fearsome winter giants; a long history of siege and hardship has made for hardy warriors in the Northman’s house.

*Folk of the Valley*: Long of Limb and Rosy cheeked, with bright eyes and wavy hair ranging from golden to dark brown. Former Nation was Rebegon, currently New Rebegon. They have a love of building and a mind for peaceful living. Druidism features heavily in their religion, for all the world is a garden to the people of Rebegon.

*Folk of the Swamps*: A dark-haired, thick-browed and stout people; the traits that suited the humans that would become the citizens of Arelgrand to the plains and swamps of the southern Dragonlands found to be even better suited when the time came for mankind to construct great empires and cities. This came as great surprise to the empire building cityfolk to their south and the blood spilt between these two peoples still cast umbrage after the great exodus, even though the wars themselves are mostly forgotten.

*Folk of the Woods*: Wild raven hair and slate grey eyes, easily freckled skin and pointed features. Former Kingdoms were Rebegon and the deep forests. Now scattered across the Islands. Living in the deep woods of the old world, the home of elves and fairies, has a tendency to create a strange people, gifted with magic and cursed with dark fate. Once the age of myth was ended, stone towers built in deep-wood villages broke the canopy, heralding an age of human mastery over the arcane led by a human-elven dynasty, now only memory and ruin.

*Folk of the City*: Dark straight hair, dark eyes, Swarthy skin and prominent noses. Corvians, as they are generally known, are as much enamoured with the beauty of strength as they are the strength of beauty and fight viciously amongst themselves to prove their might. Formerly resided in a series of mighty city states in the south and has attempted to recreate their glory in the Islands – unsuccessfully.

*Folk of the East:* A disparate group that fled from a mysterious eastern land. Much variation in aspect and manner but generally jet black haired, with similarly dark eyes. Skin ranges from alabaster pale to nut brown and with wide monolid eyes. Legends state that just one of the many empires in the east was greater than all lands of the west combined.

*Folk of the Arrow*: Eyes with fleeting similarity to the men of the east, but with ghostly pale hair and eyes, with long limbs in sharp contrast with the typically slight Easterners. This people have long been feared as raiders, travelling the realms at will with no care for laws or kingdoms. Their speech is considered cruel and unpleasant to most. They are not often found ashore in the current age, trading their horses for boats to continue their raiding ways.

**Dwarves**
Short, sturdy creatures fond of drink and industry. The Dwarves, ‘Taremshan’ in their own tongue, exist on the periphery of human civilisation, temperamental and inscrutable in their ways. Far predating human civilisation, the ancient and crumbling fortresses the only sign that these stout mountain folk once ruled this world. What doom befell them? Who can say? But something has drawn the Taremshan away from the world. It seems to delve ever deeper into the earth is their inevitable fate.

**Elves**
A near mythical race of beings, legendary for their grace, beauty and mastery over the arcane discipline. Said to be the first beings to teach the magic arts to mankind, for which they are revered, in particular by mages, wizards and witches. Their artefacts are most prized for their magic. No man has seen a pure born elf in hundreds of years, they are said to have disappeared into the deep forests of the old world for reasons known only to them. It is said of the elves that they learned some secret in their study of the arcane, something that spurred them to flee their homes.

**Halflings/Hobbits**
A young but sophisticated race, the hobbits have always existed underfoot of the humans even in the old world. This has led to suffering in much of the hobbits’ history, though cheerful hobbit culture does not dwell upon it. In truth the hobbits were treated well only by the valley folk, who strive to emulate their idyllic way of life and the wood folk, who take a keen interest in their seemingly supernatural ability to transform their natural environment positively. Indeed it has been noted by clerics that all hobbits embody exactly neutral good alignment, and evil cannot thrive in a hobbit settlement.

**Gnomes**
Gnomes are nature spirits, common types are: forest gnomes, mountain gnomes, river gnomes and meadow gnomes. They inhabit the wild parts of the world, ever in conflict with civilising forces wherever they meet. Gnomes reflect the environment in which they live in temperament, and where humanity intervenes with nature their normally neutral souls become twisted and angry, making for dangerous foes.

**Ogres**
Outsized, lumbering, malformed and twisted, ogres are the cruel and evil reflections of humanity’s worse nature. They proliferate easily but luckily have no heart for metalwork or bowyery. Descendants of humans that intermingled with ogres inhabited much of The Isles when the first migration occurred, and though dispossessed of their land they still provide a threat in many of the islands.

**Animal Folk**
Almost any animal you see roaming the world does, or at some point did, have a humanoid counterpart forming small, primitive societies in the wild places of the world. In much the same way giant versions of animals are sometimes spotted, one of the most prevalent dangers to humans.