Races

Major Races

Dragons and Dragonkine- The ruling race, ruling powers, of the world are the dragons. They are the most powerful, both physically and mystically, of all the races among the Sea of Stars. Dragons come in many shapes and colors, but all share the ability to take a humanoid form at will.

The Dragons often mate with lesser races, the children of these unions are the Dragonkine. The first generation of these, the Dracona, sometimes called half-dragons, are the most powerful. Later generations, the Dracovi, are less powerful. Eventually, the bloodline is further diminished to those who are simply touched (or tainted) with dragonblood, the Dani.

Dwarves (Gemkine)- Many of the dwarves and their holds were badly damaged in the sundering of the world, but they have since recovered. The dwarves continually chafe under the rule of the Dragon Queen but they are not willing to directly provoke her wrath. (Though there are rumors that they supply weapons to groups that oppose the dragons.) Over the centuries, the dwarven kingdoms have reached some accommodations with the dragons providing fine metal work and jewelry to the Dragons in exchange for other commodities.

The various kinlines of dwarves are aligned with the various gems, the largest of them are Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, Obsidian and Sapphire.

Elves (Earthkine)- The Elves almost died out as a race following the Sundering, they are deeply tied to the world and many fell sick or died when the world shattered. Even today, they live under the curse of the sundering, every elf child born is born without something. For some, it is something physical, a finger or an eye, sometime it is something metaphysical, an inability to sing or to perceive the color red, but they are all missing something . . .

The elves may have wished to oppose the domination of the dragons, but many of their finest wizards had already perished before the Sundering. The weakening of their race in the aftermath eliminated them as a threat as far as the dragons were concerned. Slowly, the elven race has recovered but it has remained a shadow of what it once was.

The kinlines of the elves are aligned with the great trees, such as ash, oak, and willow, with the houses and families aligned with individual plants.

Humans

Sen’tek (‘vile’)- Hundreds of years ago, a group of servitors conspired against their Dragon masters, generations of planning went into their coup. Had it not been for a brave group of Visse who revealed the plans at the last moment to the Dragon Queen and forced the conspirators to act early, it may have succeeded. The attack disconcerted the Dragons long enough for the conspirators and their families to flee ahead of the rightful retribution of the Dragon Queen. They fled deep to the distant mountains and into a deep set of caverns and tunnels prepared for just such an eventuality. The traitors broke the teeth of the first attack on the caverns, but at great cost. A second assault was planned to destroy the traitors utterly but it stalled on internal politics and worries of even greater losses. In the end, the dragons sealed all of the entrances they could find after raining down their magical fury on the caverns. It was hoped that this would solve the problem once and for all, but the traitors survived . . .

They are know to the Dragons as the Sen’tek, which means ‘vile’, the call themselves the New, but most refer to them using the Draconic word. They refuse to more then the minimum of magic as the Dragons can detect its use. Instead they have turned to chemistry and artifice to build weapons and defenses against the dragon.

Visse (‘servitor’)- When the Dragons emerged victorious from the Great War, they realized that they had no plans for how to rule the world afterwards. The first thing they did was to build the palace city of Shel’lioc, but they needed people, servants to tend to their needs and to fill the new Imperial bureaucracy. Humans were too ambition and short lived, the dwarves too dour, the elves too weak, so the Dragons made their own, the Visse (‘servitor’ in Draconic).

Following the treachery of Sen’tek, the bloodlines of the Visse were purged and purified and never since have they troubled the minds or hearts of their patrons. Visse are the only race that the Dragons are forbidden by Imperial Decree from mating with.

Minor Races

Beastkine- The Sundering had many strange effects, warping both man and beast, sometimes combining both. This lead to the creation of new and bizarre races that had never been seen before. Many of these young races died out but other have thrived.

Among the Beastkine are the Dogmen of Altacia, the Badgerkin of the Crimson-Lined Valley, the Hyenakine, the Sisters of the Swan and the Catfolk of Felix Talis.

Giants- The giants had stood aside during the war, perhaps because they hoped to seize power afterward, perhaps because they did not see any threat to themselves. In either case, they were wrong, the first project of the Dragons was to shatter the giants and their kingdoms. The remaining giants were driven to the outer edges of the Sea of Stars.

Those giants that remain have become experts in fighting and slaying dragons. The dragons rarely seek out the last of the giants except as the most challenging of prey.