Legacy of Darkness (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Races

=Races=

Humans
The most prolific of all the races, mankind inhabits nearly ninety nine percent of all inhabited shards. They are the most diverse, posessing members of thousands of variations; they are the most adaptable, existing in the deserts, tundras, forests, even oceans; and they are the most ruthless.
 * Imperials: The Palantium Empire is comprised of hundreds of races from all corners of the Void, but they all defer to the Sumil-Teten, the Imperials. Graceful, collected, and aloof, the Sumil stand out among others for their pale skin, dark hair and eyes and slender build. Bred forcefully though accidently through dozens of bloody wars and united by a powerful Queen, they have become known to be the best of the best-skilled warriors and learned scholars, potent mages and charismatic leaders.

Humans from Helsinsid are virtually identical to Imperials, leading the Empire to regard that shard as Palantium's sister. Helsinsi are usually kinder and are more charitable, however.
 * Manes: The Maunu-Teten, humans not born on Palantium or of Imperial stock are considered lesser beings. They might be dark skinned savages from Sayatai, the pale blond giant-men of Senulia or industrious farm folk from Emilios. Among the Empire, Manes are considered second-class citizens, fit only for use as laborers or low-ranking soldiers.

While Imperials and Manes are cross-fertile, mixed offspring are considered Mane, although they might still be allowed to attend Imperial conventions and colleges. The term "Mane" comes from a bastardization of the Othir word Maunu, which means "child". This moniker was given in reference to the reactions of humans brought to Palantium by explorers, awed as if children by the technologies of the Empire.


 * Gaebs: The Gaebeus-Teten are the lowest class of humans in the Empire. Crossbreeds of elves, orcs, giants, outsiders; lycanthropes, undead-those who were born or who are no longer of pure human blood are condemned to live either as slaves or serfs to the Imperials, or as outcasts scrounging life on the outskirts. Indeed, as proven in the case of a certain thri-kreen warrior, non-humans may hold greater rank than the impure.

The most notable half-angel is Ferren Cantyle, an Old Imperial Knight and advisor to Exarch Baenes. The child of a planetar, he towers over other men and adorns his gigantic wings with gray paint to dull their appearance.
 * Korusc-Teten: It is said that there are exceptions to every rule, and the breeding of men is one such case. In the Empire, the child of an angel and an Imperial is considered something of a higher being, capable of becoming a lord in his own right. Half-celestials are fawned upon at an early age, given the best of schooling and training in the hopes of joining either the military or the Union.

Giants
The largest of the races, the giants ruled the old world before it shattered. The Aurumari and Nephratim Empires fell about three centuries before the Shattering, allowing races they had kept as slaves (like humans, raptorans and goblins) to spread and eventually control certain areas. Those giants displaced by the destruction of their civilization roamed the world, eventually settling in small tight-knit communities. With the Shattering (the Dam'e'ne Yhluiol, in Ayrtol), shard ecosystems simply couldn't support these communities' needs and most died out.

The Aurumari possessed an intense karmic belief in the power of the soul. In their eyes, one's soul was something of a record of every experience that happened during each lifetime. Where one had traveled, battles fought, even lovers taken-for those who believed, these experiences could be recalled to memory. While there were no known meldshapers during the Empire's reign, every giant inherited some small amount of incarnum from their ancestors. DM's note: True giants now possess the incarnum subtype.


 * Fire Giants: The fire giants of Nephratim built colonies in the deepest recesses of the earth and the highest mountain peaks. They were master smiths and craftsmen, possessed of an incredible drive to better their talent, no matter the cost or obstacle. In some sense, their motivation became their undoing.

As a testament to their achievement, the fire giants agreed to devote thousands of smiths and craftsmen, and several decades of time to build a massive demiplane that would snake through the world, creating shortcuts from one point to another. With creation of Shanala, the Nephratim began mining operations on several other planes, using the Plane of Shadow as a way point to bring ore and gems into the Eliolan end of Shanala. God-Emperor Bethioon (the final ruler of Nephratim) guided his people in a massive stockpiling of weapons and wealth, while his warblades honed their skills terrorizing their way through the Plane of Shadow. He set up dozens of new enclaves throughout the settled realms, and he began slowing filling them with warriors and weaponry.

The Stonefall War, as he named it, was less of a war and more of mass genocide. After nearly erasing the stone giants from the world, thousands of unsettled fire giants rebelled against their leader. Bethioon and his loyalists fled to the Plane of Shadow ahead of the rebels, and to this day, their status is still unknown.

The remaining fire giants scattered, settling in the deserts and plains, where they reverted back into a nomadic tribal stage, slowly evolving into sand giants. A rare few fire giants might still live, but they would likely be extremely old.


 * Sand Giants: One small tribe of sand giants survived the Shattering in the desert known as the Chormar. The bronze skinned giants of Helsinsid have evolved into a highly spiritual society based around their warriors and an intense connection with the desert. They live by raising noas for meat and clothing, collecting dew from haluu (condensation net fields that dot the shard), forging vessels out of glass for trade.

Despite being descended from Nephratim fire giants, they bear no ill will towards goliaths.

A few centuries ago, the giant goddess Amurali rose, building the first city from a ruined town she discovered buried in the sand. Amurali united the human and giant tribes of Helsinsid into a society that rivaled the Empire in political power. With the murder of Amurali, the sand giants have been once again displaced-returning to the desert to form new tribes lead by the remnants of the Il'noa, her sacred knights. These tribes hate the Empire with an undying passion, but they wait amid the sand for the right time to strike.


 * Stone Giants: The graceful, industrious stone giants of Aurumari were driven to the brink of extinction by the combination of war and the Shattering. Their ruins are sparse, eroded away in the millennium. Three elders remain, hibernating in a sealed adamantine tomb beneath the surface of Rhaeddia. These three are the last of the Aurumari, but their bloodlines live on through the goliaths scattered throughout the shards.


 * Goliaths: Goliaths are the peaceful descendants of the Aurumari stone giants. They live in tiny (4-9 individuals) roving tribes in some of the mountainous shards that once formed the base of the Aurumari empire. Rhaeddia, Cuesecan, and Descada are the three shards known to be their homes, and each shard produces some unique traits in these goliaths.

Rhaeddian goliaths are fierce, largely shamanistic in a devotion to a prophecy based from the lithoderms of a set of twins born centuries ago. They enforce the old customs of face concealment among the Yuirefolk, as well as providing healing to their warriors. The rely heavily on truenaming in their daily ceremonies.

Cuesecan goliaths are nearly extinct, numbering in about two dozen. They are generally slenderer than other goliaths, and inclined to excel in spear fighting. They too have a small tradition of truenaming, but they generally use it to protect them from the militaristic humans of that shard. These goliaths are very single-minded, concerned more about individual survival than that of the group's.

Descadan goliaths are the greatest oddity of the three. Known from about sixteen individuals, they stand out with pale white skin and feral golden eyes. They speak using a simplified form of truespeech that causes the listener to very mildly hallucinate. All Descadan goliaths are believed to reside in Licil Karcere's halls, where they are being studied. Descadan goliaths do not have a racial bonus to Sense Motive or the acclimated ability, instead they gain a +4 racial bonus on Truespeak checks.

Fey
The fey are everywhere. From the depths of Ael'Terinsin to the forests of Amone Faer, the Forlorn Folk wander each shard, keeping the balance as it was. They came from somewhere even they don't quite recall, some dark, antediluvian world of terrific proportions. Bäilhl, the fair folk call it. Hundreds of years before the rise of the giants, the fey migrated here en masse, settling the forests and plains. They were feral then, little more than beasts, hunting and slaughtering each other mercilessly.

At some point, two distinct groups arose from thousands of tribes. The Paenshrae: the arboreal hunters of the night-graceful, brutal and silent; the other, Oliňdirei: the majestic sun-worshipping nomads of the plains.

The Eliolian faerie courts vied for territory among the giants of Aurumar and Nephratim, although they never came to outright conflict. Their trade in precious textiles and herbs made them indispensable to both Empires, but their political might was believed to be one of the tipping points of the Stonefall War.

After the Shattering, the courts remained through the possession of a trio of giant relics, which allowed the fey to adopt use of the mystical road Shanala. Paenshrae and Oliňdirei courtiers have infiltrated nearly every level of Imperial society, posing as humans to fulfill some hidden agenda.

The fey of both courts are generally segregated by familial houses of certain species. Nymphs, glouras, frostwind viragos and verdant princes make up most of the nobility as some of the most powerful fey, while the lesser houses are comprised of mostly sprites. Satyrs are one of the most prolific house-less fey, used as hunters and warriors by both courts. Fey whom are bound to specific natural features (dryads, fossergrim, oread, glaistig) are not considered nobles, although the oldest and greatest may often advise the queens and their courts.
 * Gloura: The gloura might be the longest lived of the fey, dwelling deep underground or in the oldest, darkest forests. They are the Paenshrae's noble swordsmen and scholars, keepers of lore older than most races. They appear to most as silver eyed elves, but their true forms are even more elegant, with grand moth-like wings and iridescent skin. The oldest house, Amayth, are the queen's stewards, governing outlying coveys of fey with an iron fist. They rule from Argonith, miles beneath the toil of human and goblin miners.
 * Dryads: The bound fey are oddities among the already strange. Dryads in particular, tied to a tree and forced to live in it's cycles while other fey do as they please. They slowly become morose, and then bitter as the centuries wear on. Many become violent to intruders, even other fey. When the Empire began the harvesting of wood in Rhaeddia, they discovered a copse of ancient dryads who had succumbed to madness. As a gift to the Potentate, a mage transplanted three of these dryads to Palantium, where they now remain in the Grand Conservatory in the Imperial Palace.


 * Dasŭ:

Kobolds
Kobolds are a race native to Palantium, in fact, the only other race native to it. They were enslaved long ago by the Imperials as laborers and just sort of stuck, becoming a fixture in every household.

Ostaur’ghil, the enlightened young, are numerous in number in modern Palantium. They hold higher status than most Manes, at least towards Sumil opinion, and can be found in nearly every position from merchant to stablehand.

Kobolds are exempt from any military work, since the nobility value them for their skills as craftsmen and shipwrights more than their ability to fight.

As non-humans, kobolds are not permitted to use or manipulate any form of magic, and families are required to turn in magic using kobolds to the Imperial Knights.

Kobolds have long forgotten any ties to the true dragons that they might have once had as a race, and the dragon wrought are completely unheard of.

Palantium kobolds are often quite eloquent, since most families can afford advanced schooling for their children. Very, very few kobolds live at a lower class or poverty level, but most families are connected or living with noble or merchant houses. House Shrinad in particular employs nearly a third of the population of kobolds (about fifteen hundred individuals) to assemble ships and buildings through the shard; most of these kobolds live on the house’s shipyards or in the family home in the Elder District.