Culture and Peoples

This article is a condensed guide to the numerous and diverse cultures and peoples living in the known world. It is a navigation portal, meant to give a brief description of each group and its relationship to other groups, but more extensive information can be found by following the links to the main article devoted to each.

None of the inhabitants of the world can say with certainty how old it is, nor how long the human race has lived on it. Some of the Religions present in the world give beliefs and theories on how the world was created but none have been definitely proved as fact.

One main Event changed the perception of the world - The Age of Fire (c. 200 BF - 0 AF) was a cataclysmic era on Aqoris which is believed to have created The Anarchy as well as the collapse of the ancient southern kingdom, various Kingdoms north of The Anarchy were created. However a great fire in 300 AF destroyed all records prior to that time, meaning over 3/4s of modern history and any information prior to the founding of the Kingdom, if there was any, was lost. Prophecies and Theories are abound with a general two arising, there was an ancient southern civilization that ruled before The Age of Fire and battled against The Alba. It is also theorised that The Alba may have once occupied the Lands of the Kingdom up to the Southlands. The Founding of the Kingdom of The North is the dividing Line between "ancient" and "modern" in the timeline. It is also used to mark Year 1 of the dating system - 1 After Founding(AF).

## Ancient Cultures and People of Aqoris

### The Alba

The Alba are the only definitely known race of man and inhabitants of Aqoris that have existed since ancient times. In modern times, they rule over the region known as Alba which is in the far-north of Aqoris. They used to occupy the lands known as the Borderlands but this was invaded and integrated by The Kingdom at some point during the Age of Warriors. The general theory is that The Alba stretched far further south but an ancient Southern Civilisation which still exists south of the Anarchy kicked them back North before collapsing themselves and leaving disunited groups of people who would become the Northerners.

## Modern Cultures and People of Aqoris

### Descendants from The Alba

It is theorised that The Alba descended far further south, up to at least the present-day southlands. However, they did once occupy the lands of the Borderlands and this is evidenced by the unique cultural blend present in the region as descendants from The Alba still exist in these lands now under Northern Influence due to an invasion by the Kingdom during The Age of Warriors.

#### Bordermen

The Bordermen are a group of people from the region in the Kingdom of The North known as the Borderlands, named as it is the existing border region between Alba and the Realm. It was invaded during the Age of Warriors and the Bordermen as a group were founded as the Northerners intermingled with the Alba inhabitants. Most Noble Houses in The Borderlands have Alba heritage, most of them being former-Clans that adopted the feudal culture system of the Northerners. Several still worship the Old Gods of Alba and bear symbols of Alba, even going so far as to refer to themselves as Clans. They are fierce warriors and prefer to use axes over conventional swords, a homage to the fighting style of The Alba. A defining physical characteristic of the Bordermen is their flaming ginger hair which is a trait from their Alba ancestors, they are unique in the Kingdom in this regard.

#### Alba Mountain Tribes

The Alba Mountain Tribes are a group of people in the Borderlands and the direct descendants of the original Alba inhabitants of the region. Many of the tribes are former clans who fled into the Titans Mountains to continue their heritage and fight the invaders.