Human races
Driops: a recently appeared barbaric tribe, of unknown origin. They don’t know anything about any human trade, except for the construction of wooden weapons and bows, and
of primitive clothing of bark and furs. Nothing is known of their habits except for the fact they live in thick forests South and East of the Empire, and that they aggress members of any other race on sight; they don’t even seem to have a language on their own.
Appearance: short, rosy, with light or no facial hair, chubby but delicate features,
sand-coloured curly hair and grass-green eyes; to an untrained eye it is almost
impossible to spot one Driop from another of the same gender and age.
The typical Driop is: mindlessly aggressive.
Dargavs: a nomadic race, scattered in several tribes on the plains in the Western part of the empire, mainly around the Grey River. They are quickly losing their
traditional habits and getting adapted to city life, though not yet to tilling
the earth. Most Dargavs live as chivalry of the Empire, herders or tradesmen.
Somewhat barbaric, but traditionally welcoming and good-minded, they tend to
dress in furs and leather, to eat mostly meat and to live most of their life on
horseback.
Appearance: Dargavs are
generally tall and thin, have slant, black sunken eyes and a skin that looks
like old parchment both in colour and texture.
The typical Dargav is:
Himli: the race to which most Imperial nobles claim to belong, come, it seems from the
Eastern Wastelands in ancient times. The race is now mostly mixed with Arvari
and Northerners, but individuals with its marks are still often born.
Appearance: pure bred specimens are tall,
thin, pale, with a raven hair and cobalt-blue, somewhat bulging eyes and
aquiline facial features.
The typical Himli is:
Arvarii: inhabitants of most of the Empire, the Four Realms, the Haram Plains and Zamora.
Appearance: Arvarii are the most handsome among the races of the DwarvenWorld; they generally have dark blonde to dark brown hair, usually slightly curled, and hazel to black eyes. Their skin has usually a light natural tan with a somewhat golden shine. Their facial features are marked but not excessively, regular, with straight noses.
The typical Arvarian is:
Nebrii (picture) : the scattered population of Nebria, living in small villages or
nomadic camps in the scrublands. Similar, but uncivilised, people live in the forests of Eastern Nebria.They speak a simplified form of ancient Stygian, and are practically never seen north of the Sea.
Appearance: Nebrii are usually short and thin, with delicate features, grey, languid-looking eyes and a thin complexion; they are tanned but pale, which results in an oddly grey skin. Their hair is raven black, and tends to fall in thin curls; it also tends to become prematurely hoary, and western Nebrians usually dye it with henne.
The typical Nebrian is:
Tsabri: A population that has no contacts with any of the above, it lives isolated south of the Lands of the Southern Dragon. They are not suitable as player character races, and are included here only for curious masters that want to know about each and every population of the DwarvenWorld. They live in a forbidding desertic environment, interrupted here and there by huge, unhealthy swamps. Tsabri don't worship any god, which was said to be the cause their troubles; now they are completely forgotten in the Known Territories.
Appearance: Tsabri's skin is so white it dazzles in the sunlight. They are generally gigantic people, over two metres tall. They have ropey, extremely strong muscles and cover their bodies in colourful tattoos. Males have no hair whatsoever, and females have silky, thin, perfectly white hair only on their scalp.
Other anthropoids
Dwarves are locally common in the mountains near Castrum Orientis and found sometimes as
engineers, stonemasons and metal workers in the main cities of the Empire.
Extremely rare, and generally just passing by elsewhere, except for the Stone
City, Galmers. Dwarves speak a language on their own, which no human masters,
but those travelling above ground generally know well at least one human
language.
Appearance: around 1.40 m tall, stocky, muscular complexion. Males are hairless everywhere except for a
thick, bushy, long black beard (white in elderly individuals), females are
extremely rare, and have no beard and thick hair. All Dwarves have one black
eye, looking perfectly human, and one entirely a very dark red, which they keep
closed in sunlight and is able to see the heat of things. As a consequence
Dwarves don’t have stereoscopic vision unless they are in a particular
condition of penumbra.
Gumrachs are almost extinct, and found mainly in their former domains, and particularly in
Zeugma. Some very few others are scattered through the whole Empire, with one rule: they always live in big cities, and try to be seen around as little as possible. Rumours report relatively large groups live in the immense catacombs and passageway system under Gorhad.
Appearance: from a distance Gumrachs can be confused with humans; they are, however, slightly hunched, have unwieldly big and round eyes, somewhat pointed ears and much bigger canines. Also, they have no hair whatsoever. They are split in two genetically separated sub-species: by far the most common ones are of the worker type: these are shorter than men and have olive-coloured skin. The rare members of the warrior sub-race are bigger and more muscular than men, slightly paler than the workers and with a straighter stance. Some Gumrachs have double vision as Dwarves, but that’s a quite rare gift.
Underlings are maybe a legend, describing several groups of evil, flesh-eating humanoids with beastly features, disturbed by light and dedited to ambushes.
Appearance: varies, but they always have infravision eyes as the one described for Dwarves.
Elves: a legend.
