Cultures

## Vezoskie

The Vezoskie are a people born in the depths of the Dark Forest, a haunted place once filled with bestial abominations, never one alike another but all equally bloodthirsty and deadly, as well as Phantoms who are benign to the Vezoskie but who hunted other humans like bloodhounds and slew them.

The Dark Forest was a large stretch of land that was inescapable due to the prevalence of the abominations. This bred a hardy stock of people, steeped in martial skill, honor, and community. The Vezoskie achieved complete gender equality, as every able body was needed to fight the abominations in the early days. This contrasts heavily with the other cultures outside of the Dark Forest that the Vezoskie encountered after destroying the last of the abominations and venturing out into the rest of the Colae.

It was decided among the warlike nobles of the Vezoskie to conquer the outside world laid before them. The abominations had been a test from the All-Powerful meant to prepare them for this moment, and so they did. Roughly 200 years ago, the Vezoskie emerged with a battle-hardened army and conquered the rest of the human kingdoms. Each time a new one was encountered, the terms were delivered: submit to reasonable terms (subjugation without usurpation) or war (which also didn't revert to usurpation if the enemy fought with honor). The longest subjugation war was that of the Oromar's, who fought effectively for two months before submitting to the Vezoskie's terms, only because they respected them.

They formed the Empire of Colae, a unified human empire to stand against and assert the dominance against the other (presumed) unified empires of the Dwarves and Elves. A couple of wars with the Elves resulted in relative victory, rarely resulting in complete victory, but asserting dominance and earning much-desired Elven goods and loot.

Upon these ventures into the Elven territory, the Dwarves constructed a giant wall along the human border to deter any invasions. It was finished within a week. In time, the Empire accepted the challenge, though. A grand imperial army, led by Vezoskie armies, assaulted the Wall, but it was too well-defended. It was armed with huge anti-personnel engines that hurled stones, crossbows, and missiles at the attackers. The army suffered heavy casualties and the survivors were promptly left to the slaughter as the Dwarves launched a simultaneous amphibious counter-attack, utilizing giant automatons.

Not a single Dwarf was seen during the war, or in Human history at all. No dialogue was ever achieved. After five months of ravaging by the almost infallible machine-demigods, they simply left, leaving only four wreckages to their opponent. With the armies of the Empire scattered, the other kingdoms saw this as a sign of weakness. In a time of weakness, most appealed, then declared independence from their overlords, the Vezoskie.

Now, the Vezoskie's warriors, while still the best in the land, were almost all dead, and their strength had been sapped by the years spent in luxury. The Empire is fractured, but can it be reclaimed?

## Oromar

The Oromar are widely considered the second most powerful kingdom in Colae before and after the Imperial War. Prior to the formation of the Empire, the Oromar had regularly invaded their neighbors, the Westlanders and Mothev, but could never permanently keep territory far from the border due political shifting and harsh rulership.

The Oromar are the only other culture in Colae to assign spiritual significance to the Dark Forest. It had been used as a test of strength for warriors interested in increasing their prestige to enter the Forest and return with tales of horrible beasts slain and phantoms encountered, though they rarely returned. Of the fraction that did return, a fraction of those returned with tales of seeing other humans.

One such of these warriors, Vidar Elovsson, the last known warrior to enter the Dark Forest before the Imperial War, saw the great armies of the Vezoskie and warned the kingdom, buying it precious time to gather fighters from around the kingdom.

## Mikaf

Prior to the Empire’s subjugation of Mikaf, the people living there had belonged to several different tribes, all of which were consumed with rivalries with one or the other. A balance of power existed along with disagreements over homelands and religions.

The main tribes that existed before the Imperial War were the