quote

races

There are a variety of races in Astraia, some playable, and some not. All are fantastic in their own right, and it is highly recommended that you learn more about them, since you're at least playing in the same world as them.

0 likes

with careful hands, i'll let you down
i won't let go, stand up now

quote

Humans, it is speculated, are the youngest of the Astraian peoples - we tend to expire at least two or three decades before a person of the Everlasting would, and our lives are as that of a common domesticated animal before the years of the dragonkin. Perhaps it is our short lives which spur us to expand and reproduce at the rate we do; and it is surely our advantage in numbers that allows us to contend with the other peoples, for we have no advantage in size, strength, intellect, survivability, or agility to speak of.

- Kertus Ferrigan, Studies of the Known World: Volume IV

history.
The exact beginnings of the human race can only be speculated upon, as most knowledge of anything beyond one thousand years to the present day is lost to the ages. However, the common consensus is that they are indeed the youngest of the races, and that not even the significantly older races, such as the dragonkin or maguses, know where they came from or how they came to be. There are some loose theories which circulate in the scholars' circles; one such theory is that the gods created them from the waters of the sea and the wood of the trees, as the dragonkin and their ancestors are thought to be molded from fire and earth, and the kai fashioned of sand and wind. Another theory is that they came from across the Known Seas and simply lost ties to their old home. There are also theories that are heavily frowned-upon in the scholarly circles; one such theory is that humans came from the heavens' heavens. This theory usually serves as an excellent opening joke at high-society parties.

common birthplace(s).
Most of Astraia's countries are dominated and run by humans. This is mainly because the other races have little need for such large-scale organization. As such, humans are quite literally found almost anywhere.

lifespan.
The average human man or woman lives to be about 70 years old. Occasionally some make it to 80 or 90 years, but this is rather rare.

appearance.
Humans come in a variety of shapes and sizes - taller than the kai, shorter than dragonkin, and duller (some would say) than maguses. Humans of warmer southern climates tend to be darker-skinned and more dark-haired, while humans of the colder northern climes are fairer of skin and hair.

culture.
Human culture is a diverse thing which would take a great deal many books to accurately record. The short version is this; the culture depends vastly upon the location. Humans are flexible and adaptable in their range of personalities, temperaments, and fancies, so it's easy for humans in one country to be more mild-mannered or more cutthroat than the humans of their neighboring countries, especially when they cut themselves off from each other, which they do, with their different societies and kingdoms, their different ways of life.

0 likes

with careful hands, i'll let you down
i won't let go, stand up now

quote

The dragonkin are a brutish people. Spilled blood is to them what air is to us. They are too haughty to respect our laws, caught up in their own overwhelming strength and size, and they require no payment or reward to start a fight, though they'll take your money for it anyway.

- Eretha Blacket, late court physician of Elistar

history.
The dragonkin are an older race, going back well before humanity's arrival on the scene. They pride themselves in being descended from the same ancestors as dragons and wyverns in the Far North. The truth of that has never really been in question, considering the draconic nature of their internal and external physiology.

common birthplace(s).
Though the dragonkin can be found in many places, almost all of them are born in one clan settlement or another around Mount Valer in the Far North, only a number of miles from the first grim peak of the Upreaching mountain range. There are a large number of loosely-affiliated dragonkin clans around Mount Valer, the actual mountain itself serving as neutral territory where the clans come together to undergo various rites and celebrations.

lifespan.
The dragonkin are the most long-lived of the Astraian races - they are known to live well over two centuries, sometimes three. 50 years is roughly the same to them as 23 or 24 for a human, but it is only in the last decade of their life or so that a dragonkin's strength and fitness will begin to wane. Some scholars believe that it is their long lifespans that makes their progress as a civilized people slow in comparison to the other races.

physiology.
True to their name, the dragonkin's physiology is greatly reminiscent of a dragon's, even if they have the same relative body shape and hair color as a human or magus. Aside from being broad and tall - the average male height being a little over 7 feet, 6^1/2 for the females - the dragonkin possess inhuman strength, of which they are proud. Their biological sex does not affect their level of strength, either - it is initially the same for both males and females, and whoever is stronger depends on who trains harder. Dragonkin have tough skin, speckled with patches of tiny smooth scales, that is not split as easily as a human, and protects them from both intense heat and intense cold, so they are biologically suited to living just about anywhere. Dragonkin possess a rather frighteningly-high internal body temperature, which can't be felt through their tough skin, but will escape when the skin is broken. Dragonkin are also very dense - this means that although they hit harder, they also move slower. Their senses of smell and hearing are also heightened, like a feral beast.

culture.
The dragonkin are typically thought to be a barbaric people by the humans who dominate Astraia; this is mostly due to the fact that much of dragonkin culture and upbringing revolves around training, fighting, and winning. Dragonkin tend to have more ill temperaments, especially in their youthful prime, and they are also a proud people, proud of their strength and proud of their honor. All dragonkin worship Veyr, and very few claim a different patron god. Dragonkin culture is, currently, divided in two; there is the stalwart, honorable, stuck-in-their-ways elder generation of the clans at Mount Valer, and then there is the restless and haughty younger generation roaming Astraia. The latter serves as the common stereotypical example of the dragonkin's image, enjoying their long years freely as mercenaries or other combat-oriented professions with little regard for the cultures outside that of their homeland.

0 likes

with careful hands, i'll let you down
i won't let go, stand up now

quote

The kai are a fragile people in physicality, though their homes in the sands of the Everlasting trouble many. Few dare even go within twenty miles of that land's borders, let alone live in it. Such a thing is unheard of. So I suppose that makes the kai a most peculiar abnormality. I dare not enter that land myself to seek them out, but they are known to sometimes leave in search of what I can only deign to call 'understanding' of the world, so perhaps in my own travels I will have the fortune to meet one.

- Kertus Ferrigan, Studies of the Known World: Volume IV

history.
The kai originated from within the arid and inhospitable Everlasting, an immense desert to the west. Little speculation about how they came to be circulates, for there is not much to speculate upon when the divine lands of the gods are in question, but the kai believe themselves to be descended from ancient birds, which explains a great deal of their physiology, as well as their nomadic natures.

common birthplace(s).
All kai are born and raised in their nomadic tribes of the Everlasting, wandering the arid sands in mobile tent settlements. Typically, they leave the desert in order to see more of the world, or go on a private quest of self-discovery, or both.

lifespan.
Kai are known to live about 100 years, sometimes more, sometimes less.

physiology.
Of the peoples of Astraia, kai are, without a doubt, the smallest and most delicate. With males averaging in at 5'2" and females at 4'10", they are, without a doubt, the least imposing. They are typically skinny and lean, though their limbs are usually, proportionally speaking, a little longer than the norm for a human. Their bones are hollow, like birds, and they are quite lightweight, usually weighing less than 100 lb, making them easy targets for breaking. However, they are quite quick and agile, with powerful leg muscles and a long, dexterous feather-tufted tail - kai can make impressive leaps that the other races cannot hope to rival, if they train their legs carefully, and are quite nimble in the air. Kai also possess a keen eyesight not unlike that of a hawk or eagle, and a delicate sense of touch that allows them to feel even the slightest vibrations in the air, earth, and anything else. It also makes their hand-eye coordination uncannily and instinctively precise, making them excellent natural craftsmen (when the craft does not involve too much heavy lifting) and archers.

culture.
The kai are typically considered to be a strange and somewhat eccentric people; they are wanderers by nature, a nomadic people who believe in a balance of the world. They are also diligent craftsmen, producing some of the finest materials and products found in all of Astraia. They are a very open and peaceful people who do not usually hold onto anger and resentment. Kai found wandering outside the Everlasting are sometimes in search of a long-hidden enlightenment, and at other times they are simply adventurous or ambitious spirits seeking more than just their peaceful desert home. They do not often raise families outside the desert, as they do not often run into each other, and almost never settle down in a place long enough for more kai to come.

0 likes

with careful hands, i'll let you down
i won't let go, stand up now

quote

Long is the road he walks, / Where stars refuse to shine. / Lonely is the world he knows, / With no home to call his own.

- Arterius, The Magus

history.
To most, the origins of the maguses is a mystery beyond theory and speculation, for the maguses are a secretive people who do not easily part with information regarding their people. Their history is actually a very long and complicated one, deserving of its own entry, and so the sum of it is this; the maguses are descended from a far more ancient people than any currently walking Astraia, known by their descendants as the archmaguses. Sadly, the maguses know little of their ancestors beyond the knowledge that they commanded far more powerful magic than they, magic that has since been lost to time since the sudden demise of the archmagus civilization millenia ago. Now the maguses wander Astraia, scattered and few, in search of the lost knowledge of their ancestors, as well as new discoveries and knowledge yet unknown.

common birthplace(s).
The maguses have no common birthplace, no central home or civilization to call their own. Unwanted by the suspicious, non-magical peoples of Astraia, they rarely linger in one place, and spend their entire lives traveling, often on their own.

lifespan.
Maguses are known to live around 150 years, aging a little more slowly than humans.

physiology.
Maguses have a very similar physiology to that of humans; their average heights and body builds are about the same, though the maguses possess a natural higher metabolism that keeps them thinner than might be considered healthy for a human. Their skin is always fair, inked with their magical black tattoos, which they receive at birth and which identify them as a magus, perhaps out of a certain racial arrogance that prevents them from trying to hide themselves. Their eyes come in extraordinary and captivating jeweled colors that would most likely identify them anyway, tattoos or no.

culture.
As a race of eternal wanderers, few and far between, they don't have much of a culture of their own, except a residual arrogance in their ability to wield magic over the other peoples of Astraia, and a lingering desire to learn more about the world, magic, and their ancestors. The magus' drive for knowledge usually brings them to many strange and exotic places in search of it, often never finding the knowledge they seek but learning something new nonetheless. They always seek to better their magic, though such a task is long and arduous. All knowledge known is passed down from parent to child, though because of their lack of unity, the knowledge known from family to family usually varies, with only a few common elements. Maguses are very secretive regarding knowledge of their people and magic, and due in part to this, the non-magical peoples of Astraia (especially the unwashed masses) are fearful and suspicious of them and their "unnatural" and "unholy" magic power (though many maguses harbor the theory that the gods of Astraia were, in fact, once very powerful archmaguses themselves, but they have no way to prove it).

0 likes

with careful hands, i'll let you down
i won't let go, stand up now