People

Mountain dwarves tend to stay within their mountain dwellings, though some do travel for trade or adventure to cities not far from their people. They tend to be taller than hill dwarves, with pale skin, black or gray hair, and full, thick beards.

It is said that the mountain dwarves were originally all part of a single clan whose greatest king was Karam Ezun the Wyrmkiller. Since those ancient days, however, the mountain dwarves have divided into nine Great Mountain Clans. These are Clan Craenog of the central Stoneheart Mountains; Clan Ironskull of the Blackrock Mountains; Clan Targ, now a scattered folk, originally from the Forlorn Mountains; Clan Koth, also scattered, from somewhere in the Stoneheart Mountains; Clan Krazzadak, who lost their home in the Shengotha Plateau when ice covered it, who live yet in the Stonehearts and their capital of Abaid Durhai; Clan Flammeaxte of the Deepfells; Clan Bulghoi of the Kal’Iugus Mountains; and Clans Duhnbeyl and Tusov, whose locations are uncertain.

Mountain dwarves generally do not have good relations with any other folk, even their hill dwarf cousins. However, the Silverhelm Clan of the northern Lyre Valley in the Stoneheart foothills, a part of the Great Mountain Clan Krazzadak, is an anomaly in that they are on good terms with the humans of Bard’s Gate.

The most common type of dwarf seen outside the deep mountains are hill dwarves. These ruddy-skinned, stocky folk have beards and/or sideburns that tend to be thick and in hues of dirty blond to dark brown. They are mainly miners and craftsmen and can be found throughout the world, from the Xha’en Hegemony to Reme to The Plains of Mayfurrow, and eastward to the hills of Irkaina and Shamash Kush in Libynos. They get along quite well with humans and can tolerate elves, having not been a party to either the battle at Lake Crimmormere or the Great Betrayal at Hummaemidon. They tend to avoid their mountain dwarf cousins, however, as the two groups have little love for each other.

The vast majority of gnomes in the Lost Lands live on Akados and can be found in many locations and cities throughout the continent. Some also live in Libynos, mainly in the region of the Hollow Spire Mountains in the south of the continent.

Rock gnomes are the common gnomes of the Lost Lands, and the ones most typically encountered in cities or other civilized areas. They are found more frequently in the central and western portions of Akados but live as far east as the city of Bard’s Gate. Rock gnomes generally settle in small villages in hilly regions, and mostly try to stay out of the affairs of other folks. They are known for raising fruit trees, herbs, and bees; gnomish wines and honey are well-regarded and can fetch good sums in trade.

Their deep gnome cousins, the svirfneblin, are almost never seen outside their mountain homes. Their city of Alesardin in the Stoneheart Mountains is regularly in conflict with the nearby dwarven clans. Also in the Stonehearts, on the Ice Plateau, are the ice gnomes, or barbegazi, who are shunned by all of their cousins.

Half-Elves
Many half-elves trace their ancestry to the aftermath of the Hyperborean wars, though many others are the offspring of more recent interbreeding between humans and elves (usually high elves). As a general matter, half-elves are accepted by most human realms on Akados, particularly where they are more common; in some locales where they are rare, they may be seen as a bit of an oddity, though they still would not elicit hostility. As evidence of their acceptance, particularly in eastern Akados, many leaders of human cities are and have been half-elves.

Half-elves and high elves are usually on quite friendly terms. Ironically, it is among their other cousins that half-elves are most likely to meet animosity. Typically, wild elves and wood elves would view half-elves as half-breeds, while grey elves would think of them as little more than humans. Only in some of the eastern lands of Akados would wood elves be willing to accept half-elves as companions or friends.

Most elves encountered in eastern Akados or in human cities elsewhere are high elves, most initially hailing from the Forest Kingdoms to the east of Bard’s Gate or from the Harwood Forest. Many high elves are subjects or vassals of the elven kingdom of Parnuble and revere the beloved queen of that realm and gladly rise to defend her honor. Most high elves have honey-blond hair, though some have black hair, and blue, green, or sapphire eyes.

Though preferring forests, many high elves encountered outside their homelands are widely traveled and cosmopolitan, and are on friendly terms with humans, as well as gnomes and halflings. They are reasonably tolerant of hill dwarves, but dislike mountain dwarves. They find wood elves to be fascinating throwbacks, view the wild elves as arrogant and insular, and generally hold grey elves in legendary awe. They hate drow on general principal.

The wood elves are the seemingly feral remnant of the elves that neither followed the ways of Valenthlis nor chose to depart eastern Akados during the Second Exodus. They usually live in small, isolated enclaves scattered in woodlands throughout central and eastern Akados. While they may be less overtly hostile to humans than their wild elf cousins of the Green Realm to the west, these sylvan folk are nonetheless more prone to isolationism and insular defense of their territories than the high elves. Usually, conflict is the result where human settlements encroach on wood elf lands. The one exception seems to be around Bard’s Gate, where the wood elves of the region hold the queen of Parnuble in high regard and respect the peaceful relationship she has engendered with the local humans. As a result, the occasional wood elf can even be seen walking the streets of Bard’s Gate.

Wood elves tend to be shorter than high elves, slightly stockier, with darker earth-tone skin, and hair of dark brown or muted auburn, and eyes of black, brown or, occasionally, leaf green. Unlike their kinfolk, some wood elves are able to grow beards.

Compared with their high elf kin, wood elves tend to have somewhat cruder technology but are more in touch with nature and druidic magic. In point of fact, they usually have a haughty disdain for most high elves and look down on half-elves as half-breeds. They get along with gnomes, have a neutral to slightly-hostile attitude toward humans and halflings, and actively dislike half-orcs and dwarves. Like their other cousins, they hate drow. Being quite an insular folk, the wood elves or grey elves and would be both fascinated by and cautious of such folk.

The presence of halflings is virtually ubiquitous throughout the whole of Akados, particularly in the lands that at one time or another were under the dominion of the Kingdom of Foere. Their original homeland may be in the area of The Dale and the Low Country, in the western part of the Principality of Olduvar, though there is some support for their origin in the Old Tors Road in the holdings of the overking of Foere.

Most halflings live rustic lives, often in the countryside, where they plant gardens, grow grains, and raise sheep and other smaller livestock. Some, however, have found their way to major towns or cities, and in some cases have reached heights of substantial influence and wealth, becoming successful merchants, guildmasters, or business owners. Some few have even found a degree of notoriety as adventurers or rogues, a status that secretly pleases many of the otherwise quiet halfling folk.

The Erskaelosi were, in origin, a nomadic group of people who wandered the Irkainian Peninsula from the lands of the Buntesveldt to what is now the Principality of Pelshtaria. At the time of the Great Darkness, many of them fled west and south, but found little welcome and less opportunity in their travels until they finally reached the Kingdom of Burgundia on the Sinnar Coast. There they constructed the city of Tyr as a new homeland.

After the fall of Burgundia in 3354 I.R., many displaced Erskaelosi began to wander once again. The wide-open places of the Unclaimed Lands of the northern Borderland Provinces and The Plains of Mayfurrow north to the Dragon Hills proved to be sparsely settled and offered a degree of freedom from persecution not experienced since the height of Burgundia. Mayfurrow has since become a more settled and civilized realm with only a few small bands of Erskaelosi wandering about, always careful to avoid agitating the villages and steadings of The Plains. But to the north many large bands of Erskaelosi still run free.

While the Erskaelosi get along well with Plainsmen and the Riverfolk, they tend to be looked at suspiciously by city folk, who often see them not so much as neighbors but rather as a potential threat. For their part, the bluff and boisterous Erskaelosi have no qualms about reinforcing these stereotypes as an excuse to drink hard and play hard.

Erskaelosi tend be tall stocky, with weather-beaten — often freckled — skin, and brown or black hair worn long and loose by men and women alike. Their eyes range from dark browns to bright greens. They are usually garbed in rough skins and are prone to tribal symbols tattooed or branded upon their face, arms, and chest.

The Foerdewaith are by far the most commonly found ethnicity in the eastern half of Akados. These humans descend from the many indigenous tribes that dwelt in the lands conquered by Hyperborea thousands of years ago. During the years of Hyperborean rule, they largely assimilated into an amalgamated people, though regional differences certainly existed. After being left behind when the Hyperboreans withdrew from Akados, these folk eventually became part of the hegemony of Foere started by Macobert, the first Foerdewaith overking. Although the Foerdewaith were identified as a single people during the height of the Foerdewaith monarchy, this was true only as an ethnicity and a broadly shared cultural heritage from the Hyperboreans and the later rule of the overkings. Most Foerdewaith throughout Akados identify themselves as members of smaller regions. The term Foerdewaith is now commonly used to refer to the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Foere and those (mainly the nobility) who can trace ancestries leading back to the kingdom. These "Foerdewaith of Foere" consider the bloodline to be a sign of superiority.

The Foerdewaith of western Akados tend to have fair skin and aquiline features, with darker hair colors and eyes of gray, blue, or violet. Those of eastern Akados tend to broad features; brown, light brown, or blond hair; tan to light-brown skin; and brown, black, green, or hazel eyes. The Foerdewaith of southern Akados have lighter skin tones with brown to blond to red hair, and deep brown to light hazel eyes.

Almost all Foerdewaith speak Common, though some eastern Foerdewaith traditionalists still speak Gasquen.

The fair-skinned Heldring have lived on the Helcynngae Peninsula for as far back as histories reach. After the fall of Hyperborea, their longships full of vicious raiders landed on the coasts of Akados and swept all before them as they established colonies along large stretches of the Sinnar Coast. Many current-day residents of these regions still bear the distinct characteristics of the Heldring in their ancestry. Eventually, the armies of the overking of Foere drove the Heldring from continental Akados back to their peninsula, where they live to this day. One key result of the Foere conquest, however, was the conversion of the Heldring from the worship of Hel to the faiths of Thyr and Muir.

The Heldring tend to be a tall, broad-shouldered people, many with fair hair and, among the men, prone to thick beards. They speak their own tongue of Helvaenic, though many also speak Common.

The Rhemans are the original inhabitants of The Plains of Reme. A nomadic, horse-riding folk, they are distantly related to the Hundaei of old and their descendants, the Shattered Folk of The Haunted Steppes. Since time immemorial, they have been divided into groups of extended and interconnected families known as Loreclans.

Many Rhemans continue their nomadic traditions today and live on the endless plains of Reme. The largest of the nomadic Loreclans include the Grass Sailors, the Quick Knives, the Stone Faces, the Thunder Riders, the Stone Walkers, and the Beast Takers. However, the close relationship between Reme and Foere over thousands of years has, without doubt, changed the character of Reme. Today, roughly a third of the humans in the grand duchy have some degree of Foerdewaith ancestry, although these are clustered mostly in cities, towns, and other substantial settlements. Adoption of Foerdewaith culture is more widespread in Reme than actual Foerdewaith ancestry, for the cultural impact of Reme’s alliance of convenience with Foere extended into the Loreclans of The Plains as well as the cities. The common tongue is used as a trade language to overcome Loreclannic dialects of Kirkut, jewelry is heavily influenced by Foerdewaith craftsmanship, and — perhaps oddly, perhaps not — plays and music from Foere are performed enthusiastically by amateur troupes even deep in The Plains by purely nomadic Loreclans.

The connection between the Rhemish Loreclans and the Shattered Folk is not just one of ancestry, however. Every 50 years, families among the Shattered Folk beyond the Crynnomar Gap are permitted to petition for a right to settle in the Rhemish plains, and a lottery is held to determine who may immigrate. Those permitted to settle usually join existing Loreclans in The Plains of Reme, though occasionally they may form new clans with a direct grant of range lands to be held thereafter.

Much like their kin among the Shattered Folk, Rhemans have skin tones that range from a burnt sienna to mahogany and have almost universally straight, black hair — usually worn long — that tends to gray early, though hair of a deep red is occasionally seen. They tend to have long limbs and lean muscle. Beards and excessive body hair are rare, while their eyes are almost always black or deep brown. Among the nomadic groups, tattoos are fairly common, though not as frequently seen as among the Erskaelosi.

The Uplanders are an honorable and proud folk living primarily in the upper portions of the mountain valley of the River Eamon in the Stoneheart Mountains. They tend to divide themselves along clan lines, with the Angus of Dun Eamon being the primary chieftain of the premier clan. Though they often exhibit a tendency to believe themselves superior to those who do not hail from their homeland, Uplanders are known to be hardworking and have a reputation for honestly and fair dealing that, on occasion, may exceed the truth of the situation.

They are of average height, with lighter skin tones tending toward freckles, and hair ranging from browns to auburn to shocking shades of red. Eyes range from brown or hazel to gray to blue or green. While most Uplanders remain in the Eamon valley, others have taken to trading, and enclaves of these folk can be found as far as Castorhage.

Uplanders speak Common.