Races of Rega: Mortals and Men (Worldbuilding Episode 8)

The Video version, if you prefer.

Welcome back once again to Of Gods and Gamemasters, and to my Worldbuilding series, starting from the pantheon of gods, with “Gods: Filing Off the Serial Numbers” and moving through the ages from the struggle of Creation to the start of the game. Last episode was “Skaria: Threats and Allies” and we made a lot of references to species and such that we didn't really explain. So today's episode is “Races of Rega: Mortals and Monsters” in which we explain what the various species of Rega are, both sentient and not, and where they came from...and which ones are intended as player character races by default. Buckle up, this one's gonna be a little longer.

When it comes to the species of Rega, it all comes back to the gods, as you might expect. We discussed that a bit in Gods: Filing off the Serial Numbers, and some of it is clarified in the final descriptions and myths in Gods of Rega, but we're going to be a bit more clear here...and explain my reasoning as we go.

Let's start with the species considered 'civilized' by Rega and its Successor States. Keep in mind, throughout this video, when I say civilized, I really just mean accepted by Rega, and living in organized societies with cities. There's no value judgment either way. The Regan people make some value judgments, of course, although they are remarkably egalitarian and inclusive. So lets get into it.

Obviously, first of all, we have humans. They were the dominant species in Old Rega, and are still the most numerous humanoid population in the region (this does not hold true worldwide, I may get into that in a later ep). At the very first, the humans of the Arkian Peninsula, made, like the other humans of the world, third of all sapient species. Even dragons came later. To quote the creation myth, “Meanwhile, Saevios and Caela crafted humanity, and seeded the world with it, hither and yon, in their own image, to create and love and protect, as expressions of existence itself, as near unto children of the gods. ” This was after the elves and dwarves, who I'll get to in a moment. The humans of the Arkian Peninsula, who founded Rega, were, as one might expect, olive-skinned folk, usually with dark hair, although occasional blonds popped up. Very much a Mediterranean people like the early Romans. But over time, as the kingdom, republic, then empire expanded, they came into contact with more and more different ethnicities, and being faithful to their gods, and open to differences, they treated them all as equals, so long as they accepted Regan rule and the worship of the good gods. Keep in mind, in Rega the gods are real, and it's not up for debate. They are the gods of the world, and just have different names in different places, so this wasn't particularly onerous or unpleasant unless the humans worshipped Interitus, Rixa, and Metus...in which case the wars got nasty indeed. The natural consequence of the republic, then the empire having full citizens from ethnicities from the southern continent (vaguely equivalent to Africa), the areas to the east (similar to Egypt and Southwest Asia), and even some from the (from the Regan perspective) frozen and barbaric north (like northern Europe, of course) was that they mixed, freely. And over thousands of years they became a distinct people, the Regan people. They are mostly a middle brown color with various undertones, and tend to have tightly curled hair, sometimes even kinked, but their eyes and hair can come in literally any color found in humans...and due to occasional breeding with demigods, celestials, elves, and dwarves, many colors that can't. They also have a wide variety of body types, from short and stocky to tall and willowy, and all the possible combinations.Other ethnicities still exist in the Successor States, immigrants from the barbarian north, the ancient east, or the warm lands past the southern deserts. Very occasionally, visitors come from much further east, from lands similar in some ways to East Asia and Southeast Asia, and they are seen as intriguing and different...but still people for all that. They are rare, though, because Vyzantos is in the way, and Vyzantos is not friendly to other peoples. Their borders are strongly patrolled, so people trying to cross the wide expanse of the Autokratia have to be extremely careful and stealthy...or go the long way around. This also incidently makes silk exceedingly rare west of Vyzantos, but common enough within it, as they thermselves will trade with their eastern neighbors. You don't have to be friends to do business.

So after the elephant in the room (humans) we're going to kind of go in order of when the races appeared. So next, we talk about elves. The first sapient species, they were crafted with care by Tellus and Marea, and I quote the myth again, “And on the world, on Tellus' very flesh and Marea's waters, Tellus and Marea crafted elven folk, of every kind and kindred, to husband and preserve the life therein. Amongst them, the once noble elves of the swamp, the elves of the sea, the elves of the forest, the elves of the mountain valleys.” There are even plains elves, as mentioned last video, noble horse nomads. Elves in the Successor States are an ancient and dignified folk, but they also have much love of life, in all its forms. They mistreat no living thing, not even the warped Kobaloi, nor the dragonborn, nor even the dragons or the twisted spawn of Invida, and they fight only when they must, to defend themselves, the wilds of nature, or the lives or freedom of innocents (as a whole. Every species has aberrations.) They will often look for solutions other than violence and killing...but they will feel little remorse when forced to it, because they know it was not their first choice. They consider themselves one people, despite their differences, and they all tend their native lands (or waters) the best way they can. Except one group. Their story is tragic. The once kind and beneficent swamp elves lost their way, twisted by exposure to the blood of Invidia ,which seems to gather in swamps and bogs more than other places, simply because like all other liquids, it flows downhill. They tended their swamps, and that meant they had to try to deal with the blood, and the monsters it made, whenever they found it. In time, it was too much, and the careful maniplations of Interitus made it worse, and as a people, the majority of them turned to evil. A quote from the Creation Myth: “But worst of all, the elves of the swamp, to whom an emissary came, in serpent form, and spake to them of power, and of true immortality, and of godhood, and of greatness. And they were deceived, and turned their worship to Interitus and his children, and drank deep of the blood of Invidia, and were changed. And thus rose the serpentfolk, foremost servants of Interitus on the world...save only the dragons.” They are still not inherently evil, twisted as they have become, and every now and then, a member of their people becomes truly heroic. But the arms of Interitus are long, and they have been greatly changed. Once they were elves like any other, colored green and brown like the waters and plants of their home. Now, the blood of Invidia, used as a conduit by Interitus, has turned them into the scaled, venomous, fork-tongued serpentfolk. And for the most part, they have been driven from the wetlands of the Successor States. They are found now mainly in Vyzantos...and the ruined wilds of the Arkian Peninsula, the remains of once great Rega itself...whose downfall they helped engineer. Elves are not welcome in Vyzantos, and very few remain on the Arkian peninsula, but otherwise, they, and the druids they taught, protect the lands their people were given as they always have. Wood elves are much like wood elves everywhere. High elves likewise. The differences are mainly in coloration, with the wood elves being brown as the tree trunks, or occasionally the silver of a birch, with oak green hair, while the high elves take on the color of flowers, with lightly greenish pale skin and hair any vibrant hue the rainbow might produce. The plains elves are, as we said, horse nomads, with red-gold tans and straight dark hair, and the mountain elves are cunning crafters, climbers, and hunters in their high valleys. Exposed more closely to the sun's rays, the mountain elves are usually darkly tanned, but with sunbleached hair and blue eyes adapted to glare. Elves, in general, are patient, and rarely overreact. They have time to wait and see.

So. Secondborn, we have the dwarves. Crafted of stone and steel by Ignia to be her helpers, her apprentices, they are exceedingly skilled at all the crafts that utilize the bones of the earth and the fire of their mistress. Things that would be called 'elven' chain in other worlds are of dwarf craft, light and strong beyond measure. Dwarves are by turns dour, serious, and focused on their work...then lively, jovial, and focused on their recreation. They work hard and they play hard, and they wear their hearts on their sleeves. While they are stoic about physical pain and hardship, few humans are as sensitive and emotional as a dwarf, moved to tears by a sad ballad or tale, to wrath by injustice. They are sometimes inflexible, and do things as they have always done, holding to tradition unless shown irrefutable truth that it is a bad course. They, too, come in different groups, although they were not divided by the gods, but rather by their preferences. The dwarves of the mountains are the most traditional, living in their mountain halls, often near to magma or other geothermal heat sources that they use for a plethora of purposes. They delve deep, and they craft metal and stone goods, and they build stone buildings for others. They tend to be grey of skin, like granite, with dark eyes and hair. The dwarves of the hills are crafters as well, they all are...but someone had to watch the borders, and tend the flocks that could not thrive below ground, and grow crops. Doughty warriors still, they are more in tune with the natural world than the mountain folk. They tend to browns of skin, and red or brown hair, like the stone and clay of their favored hills. The deep dwarves delved deepest, and kept delving. No force existed in this world, to turn them into dark mockeries of themselves. Instead, they tend to be exceedingly pale, resembling white marble, as one would without the sun. They are the greatest miners and explorers in the Subtelluric Realms, and hunt the monstrosities that spawn from Invidia's blood in great numbers down in the darkness...but their own resistance to poisons shields them from the blood's effects. Finally, the city dwarves, youngest of the dwarven kindreds, are dwarves who are completely integrated with the human societies of the Successor States, as their ancestors chose to integrate with Rega. Still marvellous engineers and architects, they have combined Regan learning with dwarven craftsmanship to create many a wondrous thing. But they know little of the underground, nothing of true Subtelluria, and many have bred with humans. Some are even starting to forget the dwarven tongue, and only some can still see in the darkness of the realms below. City dwarves tend to resemble Regan humans in skin coloration, with the same breadth of hair and eye color.

Next in order of their creation came the humans, above...then the halflings. Another quote from the myth of creation: “Thinking the world a bit boring and bland, Lunos and Vulpos, in their enigmatic wisdom, crafted then the halfling people, to sow and to reap, to laugh and to hide, to trick and steal and amuse...but also to maintain and support, to give heart, to bring luck.” So halflings are children of the moon gods. They are changeable, fluid...but never fickle. Loyal beyond reason, but not above practical jokes on even those they love the most if they think them in need of a lesson. Their senses of humor are legendary, and sometimes odd, but they can usually get a laugh when they want it...and no creature alive is more blessed with luck. They are as brave as they are loyal, but they have a general disregard for strict rules of all kinds, judging each situation on its own merits...almost the polar opposite of the dwarves. For their part, the dwarves seem both bemused, and amused by them, and tolerate their odd antics far better than one might expect. They come in all the colors humans do in the Successor states and beyond. The Stouts of the swamps and hills often resemble the hill dwarves. Every now and then, one is colored the way the lost swamp elves were, with brown skin and algae green hair. Stouts rove their swamps and hills freely, but are more settled than their kin. The lightfoots of the cities and plains most resemble humans, whatever the humans nearest them look like. It is the lightfoots that are sub-divided, between those of the cities, who have settled with the humans, and those of the plains, who wander always, with their ponies and caravans, though a substantial group of humans has chosen to adopt their ways. The Deepwood halflings emulate the elves that they live near to, the wood elves and the high elves both. They tend to be lightly tanned as one might under the shaded canopies, and have hair of some color a flower or other plant might have, most often oak green or sunflower blonde. Still semi-nomadic, they move from grove to grove in the forests, hunting, gathering, letting one area recover while they forage elsewhere. Finally, the Underhills, or deep halflings as they are sometimes called, have moved into the caverns of Subtelluria, where they have perfected growing and foraging for mushrooms, lichen, algae, and other things that don't need light to grow, while husbanding edible creature of the realms below, and hunting those they have not domesticated. They tend to live in partnership with either the mountain or deep dwarves, and provide them with much good food in return for hard crafted goods. Like their surface cousins, they rarely remain in one place long, but they do have well trod circuits and routes, and rarely seek new pastures or caverns.

Whew! This got a lot longer than I anticipated, so tune in later for Races of Rega: Metal and Monsters.