Papa Smurf
5:28am, October 05, 2010
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[Delete] | Humans - Being the most well rounded of the races, humans have become the dominant species of Arcadia. With their thirst to seek out the unknown, they've managed to explore and settle most of the world and have kingdoms and villages throughout. They're not particularly talented in anything and yet have the ability to pick up and learn everything, having the drive to learn as much as they can in the short amount of time that they're given.
Elves - Tall, beautiful, and the most magically gifted of the races. The Elves have probably been around Arcadia for the longest, some even claiming have been the first race born from the Goddesses. They're also come in a variety of sub-species; Wood, Mountain, Aquatic. The Wood elves make their home within the Engarion Forest. The Mountain Elves reside in the Atlum ranges. And the Aquatic Elves live under the Lucacenian Sea. Though the three vary widely in many ways, they all still share a commonality in choosing an animal aspect when they've reached adolescence. The animal they choose will be closely related the environment which they live within.
Dwarves - A nomadic race, the Dwarves have never been content to settle in one place for long. The viking race of Arcadia, they travel by long-ships and when they do settle, it's typically along the shoreline of Arcadia's continents. They're merchants and traders and at times warriors and marauders. They dominate the trade market because of their constant travel between continents and kingdoms, as well as dominating the slave market from their raids on smaller insignificant villages. While one of the shortest of races, what they lack in size they make up in pure strength, and could be considered one of the strongest races in all of Arcadia.
Gnomes - The tiniest of races but also the most intelligent. Gnomes are single-handily responsible for most the technological achievements in Arcadia for the past 400 years. It's because of this that they've become absolutely invaluable to all other races and successfully integrated themselves into every major city on the planet. It's entirely unknown where exactly they've originated from and they have no personal kingdom to call their own. Because of their advanced intellect and accomplishments in the advancement of society as a whole, Gnomes have a tendency of being arrogant.
Draconians - A race of lizard-like people that come from the swamp regions of the world. A strong warrior race with a tribal sort of society. While not incredibly intelligent, they hold a strong sense of honor and will savagely defend anything that they hold in high regard. Because of their environment, they have developed natural immunities to the diseases and poisons that others would typically fall susceptible to easily. They're also amphibious, able to breath underwater as easily as on land. While, they're named after the mighty dragons that they resemble, they actually bare no relation to the larger reptiles.
Orcs - Brutal in every sense of the word, The Orc race seeks nothing but the utter annihilation of all other races on Arcadia. Similar to the Draconians only by the structure of their society, with the vast majority living within tribes across the Deadlands being lead by a chieftain. While the Orcs can have magical abilities, they tend to only use shamanistic types of magic. Bred far war and little else, Orcs are extremely knowledgeable in fighting and little else. Goblins are the only exception to their racism and only because of the odd alliance that they hold with them.
Goblins - As small as Gnomes and almost intelligent, the Goblins are the brains to the Orc's brawn. While the technology they've created isn't nearly as advanced as those the Gnomes have invented, they can still be a force to reckon with with their odd war-machines and they almost suicidal crazy tendencies. They breed rapidly, and have come to realize even within their own society that they're easily disposable, thus often throw themselves into kamikaze situations with make-shift bombs strapped to themselves. The goblins have justified to themselves that in death met through these means that they'll be treated to an afterlife of royal treatment, something they'll never experience within their mortal existence.
Vampires - Once creatures that were feared throughout Arcadia, the vampiric race has since joined most of major society through an alliance that was struck between the Master Vampire and the Human Kingdom of Tyrsis. They're lead and kept under control by the Master, whom is thought to be the oldest of their kind and the one which all others stem from. While most vampires are content to stay within the guidelines of the alliance, there are some that still feel they are superior to the mortal races and find them to be nothing but sheep to be fed upon. These few are considered dangerous and evil and are hunted fiercely. Vampires adhere to most of the folklore standards, with their weaknesses including sunlight, silver, and garlic. However, interestingly enough, religious relics have no effect on them, thus squashing any rumors that they're soulless monsters that have fallen from the grace of the Goddesses.
Lycanthropes - The lycan disease is probably one of the most feared in all of Arcadia. While not naturally evil, as some would suspect, during the light of a full moon, a lycanthrope, no matter the subspecies, looses complete control over itself and falls under an insatiable blood-lust, leading them to hunt and kill anything living in their path. However, during any other time, a lycan has full control over itself, and is even able to change forms willingly. Their society tends to find them living and traveling in packs. Usually with an alpha leading the rest. Aside from werewolves, there's also been known variations of the disease to include wererats, werepanthers, werebears, and even weresnakes. It's possible that there might be other variations as well, and the Elves sometimes believe that the first of these creatures were members of their own kind that had allowed their animal aspects to take them completely. |
