The People of Xian-Tau

# The people of Xian-Tau

Xian-Tau has the distinction of being
the only one of the world’s four continents that is truly free.
While humanoids are entirely prohibited from setting foot on Zienne,
and large swathes of Andos and Torre have been set aside as the
exclusive domain of dragonkind, no land within Xian-Tau is subject to
such a claim beyond the holds of kobolds and the small number of
their draconic masters that dwell here.

The humanoids of the continent are
generally divided into three groups, the farming people, the secluded
people and the savages.

Beyond these there are two other major
groups of humanoids on Xian-Tau, the giants and kobolds.

### Dragons

Of the dragons that do dwell here,
almost all seem to reside only temporarily, remaining for a period to
watch over a humanoid city or carry out some other duty to their
masters elsewhere. It is suspected that a few rogue individuals live
in remote sections of the continent, disconnected from the mysterious
workings of the draconic hierarchy, although little is known of these
individuals as they presumably don’t take kindly to humanoid
intrusion in their affairs.

### The Farming People (Humans, halflings, and gnomes)

The farming people consist primarily of
humans, halflings and gnomes. Their role is generally to produce food
through agriculture and fishing. While most live in small rural
settlements the most significant works of this group come from the
continent’s great cities. The cities serve as centres for
education, trade and research, and also exercise government over the
surrounding lands, organising most of the continent into 11
city-states. While governments fiercely protect their interests
within the cities and their immediate surrounds, borders between
city-states in more remote areas are ill-defined and large areas of
countryside are effectively without any overarching rulership.

### The Secluded People (Elves and Dwarves)

The secluded people are the elves and
dwarves. While the two races live apart from one another they are
generally grouped together due to their isolation. Relying on trade
with the farming people (in the case of dwarves) and careful
stewardship of the land (for elves) to provide them with their base
needs they do not claim and modify vast tracts of the countryside in
the way the farming people do, although the networks of underground
mines created by the dwarves are said to rival in size the greatest
cities of the surface. While neither race specifically bars
outsiders, neither are welcoming of visitors. Dwarves are cold and
business-like with the traders who make the trip along winding
mountain passes to exchange agricultural products for the wealth of
the mines. Elves, with long lives and brilliant intellects, have
gained a reputation for thought over action. They spend great deals
of time in their modestly sized forest or mountain-top cities
considering and debating highly esoteric issues and feel they have
little to gain from interaction with other races *(elves here are*
generally LN)*.*

### The Savage People (Goblins, Orcs and others)

The savage people consist primarily of
goblins and orcs with smaller numbers of creatures such as
lizardfolk, ogres and trolls. They mostly live brutal nomadic lives,
hunting and gathering and contributing little to the other races.
Small groups of races traditionally considered farming people also
live such lifestyles in more remote areas. Most of the city-states of
the farming people do not consider savage people as truly people, and
they often find themselves enslaved or mistreated within such
societies unless they can show themselves to be particularly worthy
of the rights that farming people are born to. Hobgoblins are often
considered a special kind of savage. While their own societies are
nomadic and brutal they have the discipline and good sense to change
their behavior to be more acceptable around other races and many are
welcomed within the lands of the farming people for their martial
skills.

### Giants

Giants are a highly diverse group.
Hill, Stone and Frost giants are generally considered simply as
larger versions of the savage people. Fire Giants are more or less
unknown on the continent, only being seen in the service of dragons,
the only non-kobolds to seemingly have some kind of racial agreement
with dragons outside The Covenant. The nature of this agreement is a
mystery to other humanoids.

While these lesser groups of giants are
generally an unwelcome site for civilized people, the same cannot be
said for Cloud and Storm giants. They share the long lives and
powerful intellects of the elves but not their predisposition towards
inaction. They have a reputation for curiosity and living life to the
fullest and are incredibly valuable sources of information and
physical strength. While they mostly live in extended family groups
in highly inaccessible locations they are always welcomed with open
arms within the cities of the farming people and have come to be the
subject of great reverence amongst a small number of individuals.

### Kobolds

Kobolds live wherever the other races
live, having their own citadels adjacent to all major cities and
regularly patrolling amongst rural and nomadic populations to ensure
that tribute is provided to their masters and that their gods are
being given appropriate worship. Kobolds also maintain three cities
occupied exclusively by their race on Xian-Tau. These are heavily
fortified and other humanoids are never allowed in, however as all
kobolds located around the settlements of other races are present as
part of military units it is assumed that these cities must be home
to all the continent’s kobold children and their civilian
population, if indeed the race has such a thing. The land around
these cities is barren and cleared for miles in the name of defense.
The cities are provided for by steady streams of tribute taken from
other humanoids and the populace has no need to lower itself to
engaging in such primitive pursuits as agriculture.