Humans

## What it Means to Be Human in CRUX

You may not have been the first origin to crawl from the muck and make Imperium your home, but you are the first to conquer the other Origins and bring the island under the rule of a single domain.

Man is seen and known to be born rather simply, yet painfully and mostly through the best of intentions by other men. As children, they flourish from the bosom of their mothers and survive by the strength of their fathers. All humans in Crux pledge fidelity to the one true King and between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, you must pledge your service to the King's army. Once you begin your training, no matter your gender or beliefs, you train to fight and die for the king. When your mandatory service of five milestones is complete, if you survive, you are left to choose your destiny. You have been raised to live up to the legacy of your family and all your life pushed towards the idea of a profession or serving the King's army for life.

Most who live through the required service to the Kingdom come out with the conflict of understanding equality but being hungry for the gratification of individual achievement. They either remain in service or, after whatever tutelage they receive, they are eventually shuffled into the grand market to be paid for what they can provide. Many of them are deemed only skilled enough to return to the militia. Those who have saved enough during their five milestones of mandatory service can afford the time it takes to master a worthy trade. Then there will always be those who follow the trade of their fathers as well as those who seem so naturally adept at something it was as though they were born for it.

Whether you choose to fall into what has been laid out before you, or forge your own path, your way in life is entirely up to you. Even though you pledge your life to the Crown, you still have choices and Imperium is not without its problems of cohabitating with the other strange origins who occupy these lands.

The Origin of Man relies heavily on its population and trained military for survival and the enforcement of the standing treatise with the other origins. Man also struggles with their environment as they devour the resources necessary to survive with very little attempt to replenish them. They are born, they live, die, and leave little to be brought to the next life other than the stories of their achievements and the hopes of becoming a memory of their lineage.

“It’s like a Man to do all that he can until he is spent, only to have enough left to be buried.”

### Choosing Your Lineage and Profession

Most families require a trade to stay out of the military life, maybe yours never broke free from their claim to the King to traverse the lands and give back to the communities in other ways. There are however many families who do, they become bakers, smiths, masons, and the like and push their children to do the same to stray from a lifetime of bloodshed. Their line does not have to continue with you, the world is your oyster, and many opportunities will arise as you come in contact with the world at large. Still, there will be many choices you must make before embarking on any journey, and honing some skill is always a good way to start.

### Advantages and Disadvantages

**Advantages**- Due to your mandatory training humans not only begin with training in a weapon type, but they are also able to refresh an attribute once per Event from one of the following three attributes; Stamina, Agility, or Arcane.

**Disadvantages**- Humans cannot increase their Spirit attribute. Welcome to being human, your lives are short, and due to the history of Imperium most of the non-humans do not care much for your loyalties, but still they tend to lend an ear to the naïve young origin who thinks they will always be the rulers of this island.

### Common Knowledge

In this world your bread and butter are to know as much as you can about the dangers beyond the city walls. In your world most humans worship Dragon Gods, the creators of this world and there is much to the mythos and art that fill your everyday life depicting such entities. There is also the advantage of living on Imperium and being close to the other origins, who after centuries of war pledged their alliance to the one King. Due to these circumstances, there is access to many resources and as a human, the aftermath of such overuse of the natural resources around you is not much of a burden. Your lives are short, and you push to mostly achieve your own greatness and immortality in some way or another. The family unit is important and is where you have learned most of what you know about the outside world up until your fourteenth birthday. After that it is off to the service where you learn not everything is how your family painted it. Still, you survive, maybe even thrive beyond the protected walls, and the service leaves you with a question all humans must answer at some point in their early adult life. Do you place your life and steel in the hands of the one King or do you strike out on your own to see what life will offer you?

### Military Ranks

Privateer, Lancer, Corporal, Sergeant, Specialist, Master / Arms Master / Master At Arms, Officer/Grandsir, Lieutenant (Leuftenant), Captain, Commander, Warlord, WarMaster, General / Marshall

### Theology

Humans believe in higher beings, a collective of seven Dragon Gods that collaborated in the fashioning of all reality and life as they know it. This process was started by the Three Greater Beings, Dragons tied to the divine; Death, Life, and the Null. These three dragons created the four lesser elementals tied to crafting and molding Crux, the islands, the oceans, and inevitably the origins of Imperium. Each elemental force has its own part to play and the humans strongly believe that each of the four elemental Dragon Gods holds an affinity towards one of the four origins of Imperium. Man cherished by the Fire Elemental, the Dwarves by the Earth Elemental, the Quickens by the Air Elemental, and the Striders by the Water Elemental. The Three Higher Divinities tend to be less attached to the physical world and to those who walk the earth, and more attached to the spiritual and cosmic powers that hold reality together.

### Thoughts On the Other Origins of Imperium

Stereotypes exist for a reason and the Humans have their own perceptions of the other origins of Imperium.

Those whose worth lies solely in their ability to turn a profit pay homage to the matron of riches known as The Keeper, believing in dragons merely on the possibility that their skins may be gold and silver. The Dwarves are stalwart forgers, best known for their contribution to the economy of Imperium, and the armor and weapons of the King's soldiers. They are more commonly known to be mercenaries, which should lead you to tread on the cautious side when haggling and working with what few Dwarves do decide to mingle with the people.

The Quicken are fast and clever and one can never hope to truly keep every little detail in check when spending time with such a creature. They are either farmers or explorers and survivors. Regardless, if there is anything you should always keep in mind, it is to be sure to keep a Quicken in front of you where you can keep an eye on them. That and to never bother visiting them at home.

Then there are the Striders, giants bound to the earth and sky. These shamanistic traders are best left to their own devices. They are happy to trade furs and meat, and lend a hand to any party that needs divine healing, but other that they do not much care for anything else related to the cause of furthering the King's agendas. If you seek a guiding light and those touched by the divine forces than look no further, but tread lightly.

*Origin Story By: Nathaniel Baker*